New Delhi: Compassion needs to be a crucial component in care continuum. Healthcare sans empathy is untenable. Handholding of patients in their care journey can only ease the hostility long brewing between patients and care providers.
The meet of healthcare industry leaders in India Habitat Centre on May 5 underlined above facts among others. They acquiesced in a sober fact that patients are a harried lot in India and they need succour and support at every step of his care journey. They defined care continuum as aggregation of compassion, affordability and accessibility.
As first of Future Care Conference series, it was organized jointly by three emerging leaders of care continuum concept – ElderCare, India Virtual Hospital and Kainos Global. The title of theme was – ‘The Care Continuum: Challenges and Solutions’. The highlight of conference was India’s first Amputee Marathon Runner Major Davender Pal Singh as chief guest.
Dr Deepak Shukla, CEO, Pushpawati Singhania Hospital &Research Institute (PSRI), a multi speciality hospital, underlined lack of compassion as the biggest challenge in care continuum. Dr Shukla emphasised that empathy and humanity should be sine qua non of healthcare. Padma Shri Dr Sanjeev Bagai, Vice Chairman& Director, Manipal Hospital, Dwarka, New Delhi, while agreeing that compassion should be inalienable element in healthcare, held the brief for the cost that a quality treatment incurs in high tech multi speciality hospital.
Swadeep Srivastava, Founding Partner and CBO India Virtual Hospital (IVH), Capt. Harsh, CEO, Eldercare and Bhuwan Bhaskar CEO, Kainos Global applauded Government of India’s Ayusman Bharat scheme and felt the time was ripe to have conferences like this all over India to provide Care Continuum and collaborate and integrate in various ways to improve healthcare in India. Through this series of conferences, together the organizers are trying to find a reliable mechanism, overcome challenges and find solutions to provide entire spectrum of healthcare right from preventive to tertiary to end of life care across the length and breadth of India.
The conference witnessed some active discussions from renowned doctors from Delhi, media and social workers. The need to make patients aware of the right treatment, understand their fears and address their gaps in knowledge was identified as a major need for the day. The last mile connectivity and accessibility can only be provided through technology, the speakers felt.
Swadeep Srivastava, one of the well known healthcare policy experts in India explained how his initiative IVH “is already helping thousands of Indians in second and third tier cities by compassionately handling their need for tertiary care in big metro like Delhi-right from identifying the doctor and hospital to getting them discounts on treatment, helping them communicate with doctors, with out of pocket expenses etc. IVH experts also provide the Care Continuum beyond discharge when patient is back to his home right up the time he is alive.’
Capt. Harsh said explained how Eldercare uses the expertise of Veterans and thousands of doctors to take care of entire spectrum of elderly care. Bhuwan Bhaskar stressed ‘Technology alone will not help. We need technology providers, connectors and trainers. Technology is of no use if end user cannot operate it. This is the major focus of Kainos Global to provide Care Continuum via technology.’ Noted speakers included Dr P C Roy, former CMO NTPC, Dr J.S. Guha, senior Vitreo Retina Surgeon, Alka Goel , Founding Partner , Alkemi Venture Partners and Dr Manpreet Kahlon.
