I remember when I completed my Graduation (B.Sc.) from not so coveted University from a small town- Gorakhpur (though now much in importance due to the Chief Minister of the largest state UP coming from there) & I landed a job at the much coveted Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals @ New Delhi & became a part of its commissioning & till the launch and it’s becoming popular in North India (due to the combined efforts of the Marketing & the PR Teams & the examplary vision of its Founder & Chairman Dr. Prathap C. Reddy), what I could not ignore & which became an integral part of my life- both at personal & professional level, was my involvement with the ‘healthcare sector’, with the Drs (Medical Professionals), Researchers (including Innovators) & the Patients (including all sorts of Consumers who are users of Products, Services & Technological Innovations in this space)…as a Communicator & a Public Health Expert whose majority time goes in devising Awareness Campaigns & Programs which affect health conscious consumers & Patients lives in some way or the other & also in advising Patients & their families for the right choices to make in their ‘Patient Journey’.

Understanding of the ‘healthcare domain’ & networking helps: The relationship with the Drs, acquaintance with them & with the Hospital Management & the understanding of the ‘medical domain’, the healthcare ecosystem and the knowledge & connects to help Patients get the right treatment (particularly in the era when the Dr-Patient Relationship is at its lowest end) has helped me devise (or be an integral part of) more than few hundreds of mass awareness campaigns & also given me an opportunity to help/ support/ guide not less than a thousand Patients & their Families (who approach me through common reference) go to a ‘right’ Dr, get the ‘right’ treatment & have a good ‘patient journey’ experience, mainly in the tertiary care ecosystem. This makes me feel privileged & honoured and thankful to LIFE, that I’m probably the chosen one to do this omen job and for which I express my heartiest thankfulness to all my Dr acquaintances, my friends & well-wishers in the Hospital Managements & my Health Media friends who come out very handy & useful to support this endeavour.

Honoured with Doctorate in Public Health from the Coveted Sorbonne University, France gives a huge boost to all these efforts towards ‘improving health standards’: On 25th July, 2019 @ New Delhi when I received the coveted Honorary Doctorate in Public Health- Specialization Healthcare Communications from Sorbonne University, Paris area, France, I felt like graduating from a half-doctor to a full-doctor, which I felt like I’ve probably earned it through this contribution & my continuous efforts in the healthcare domain for the last 25 years…a degree which I’ve earned after 25 years of hard work…which I feel is worth it & hence very close to my heart and a true coveted one for me…& I believe it would be the same for all my well-wishers and those who have seen me in action (in whatever capacity) from close quarters. The importance of this Degree also lies in the fact that it’s been conferred for a person’s work in the field of ‘health awareness’ & for a contribution towards making impact in a Patient’s & the health-conscious/ health seeker LIFE in way of making him/ her (& the family) more aware of the situation, changing attitude towards ‘prevention’ & adopting to more responsible behaviour towards ‘prevention & better management’, be it for a disease, a lifestyle on nutritional behaviour or for choosing any particular form of ‘treatment module’ for wellness & to get back to the best of health. What makes it more relevant is that it is for me & my team [& all the Teams with whom we have worked day in & day out- be it @ erstwhile ViaMedia Health, Heal India magazine or the HEAL Health Writers & Editors workshops (more than 150) & Conventions – 7th HEAL National Convention we are up to in September 2019] towards our contribution in ‘behavioural change’ & ‘health awareness’ for Patients & ‘health-conscious/ health-seeking Consumers’.

This motivates us to now put more focus on many more such initiatives, the 2 key initiatives (on priority) being as below & make them highly impactful in form of their sustainability & success in the long run, the 2 Programs which are very close to my heart:

1. The ‘Healthy NUDGE’ Program:which will focus on giving a platform to all stakeholders who have contributed towards bringing in ‘behavioural change’ & ‘attitude change’ towards any ‘healthy practice’ in the society, all important stake-holders including the Drs (who have contributed to the Prevention & Awareness/ Public Health Education), the Healthcare Communicators, The Social/ health Workers & such Organizations (including NGOs), the Campaign Managers (including Creators) of Ad & PR Agencies and the Brands & Corporates who, as a part of their Brand campaigns or CSR initiatives have contributed to making a ‘Healthy India’ through this NUDGE approach. Of course, our PM- Shri Narendra Modi, being a true champion of this decade by initiating & successfully/ forcefully taking ‘Swach Bharat’ Program to nook & corner of the country, to all countrymen & making a huge behavioural change in Indians’ mindset & the society (as a whole) towards the practice of ‘Cleanliness’ of all forms.
2. Respect Your Doctor Program: The fact of the matter is that whatever we pretend, in daily practice & at the ground level, the situation w.r.t. the TRUST between Drs & Patients is getting worse day by day. Although the Govt has done a bit by bringing in the regulations which will allow cases to be registered & such rowdy Patients & their Families being punished in form of ‘imprisonment’ when one is found guilty of ‘attacking & harming any Doctor on Duty’, but that’s still not enough. Just yesterday it happened again in a Delhi’s Govt Hospital, it reached its pinnacle when 2 Kolkata Drs were assaulted & one of them just escaped from death…& the Patients they were treating, their Families & well-wishers were responsible for it …an ideal case of a Life Saviour been attacked as if he was a ‘Predator’…so miserable and so unfortunate, but it’s happening continuously and believe me, the onus lies on both the communities, the Drs & the Hospitals cannot shy away from contributing to this situation & it’s just a black mark on the society (a section of it) who behave in such a way & take law into their hands, rather go up to the level of ‘breaking the law in broad daylight’!

We feel that this is happening due to 2 primary reasons: A) due to lack of ‘communication’ from the Drs’ & Hospitals’ end when it comes handling such cases; & B) the loss of sensitivity of the society towards this noble profession, when it comes to giving it the due respect what it deserves, which stems from this growing belief that ‘all Drs & Hospitals have become commercial & greedy’, painting everyone in one color, which is quite unfortunate!!

Hence, we have tied up with a respectable body- Indian Medical Academy of Preventive Health (IMAPH) & HEAL will soon come up with a nationwide campaign in an attempt to bring in shift to this mindset (of the society) & create a platform & push such case studies of Patients & Families openly ‘expressing their gratitude to their Treating Drs/ Family Physicians’.

A Medical Doctor treats a Patient and at many times becomes a ‘life saviour’, but my this column is dedicated to all those who are making that difference to improving/ impacting the ‘healthcare scenario’ in our country by contributing in their own ways, be it our PM Shri Modi Ji who took this brave step of relaunching ‘health benefit schemes’ under AYUSHMAN BHARAT- the national health program (touted as Modi Care- the largest & most innovative health benefit plan in the world today), or a common Anganwadi/ ASHA worker who is working in various govt. programs, any other ‘Health Worker’, Swach Bharat Volunteers, all Nurses/ other Para-medics & the ‘Healthcare Communicators’ who are generally the underestimated lot, but their role is unmatchable when it comes bringing in ‘behaviour changes’ in peoples’ mind towards ‘healthier practices’.

I DEDICATE THIS HONORARY DOCTORATE TO ALL SUCH INDIVIDUALS & ORGANIZATIONS WHO ARE CONTRIBUTING IN THEIR OWN WAYS TO IMPROVE THE ‘HEALTHCARE SCENARIO’ OF OUR COUNTRY- INDIA & HELPING MAKING US INDIANS ‘HEALTHIER’ BY ADOPTING ‘HEALTHIER PRACTICES’.

Yours Sincerely,
DR. SWADEEP SRIVASTAVA
E-mail: swadeep@viamediahealth.net
Twitter: @SWADEEP