Foreword 'Covid-19 pandemic is the biggest lesson humanity has ever learnt'
Dr. Ajai
Having spent over four decades in the healthcare sector, both as an oncologist and founder-entrepreneur of 26 cancer hospitals across the globe, I have no doubt whatsoever in my mind that the Covid-19 pandemic is the biggest lesson humanity has ever learnt. It was a bolt from the blue that turned our worlds upside down in a span of a few months and viciously exposed our inherent weaknesses, particularly those of the healthcare sector.
In our attempt to document the stark pandemic-triggered changes in book form, we were initially focused on whether and when pre-Covid normalcy would be restored: will our work life resume like before, will we see our patients the same way as before, and how will the changes in the environment impact us.
However, after much brainstorming with my Think Tank team - Seethalakshmi and Rahul - we decided to look beyond: on what the pandemic has taught us over the last one year, as also on the pressing need for a robust course correction in the country’s healthcare sector. We decided to probe deep into how an invisible virus woke us from our slumber only to issue a stern warning: that we must immediately plug the wide gaping holes of India’s healthcare sector or else face the fatal perils of continued inaction.
We have divided the book’s content into six chapters: Universal Health Insurance- which, I strongly believe, will be a game-changer in making quality healthcare accessible for India’s poor millions. Medical education in India elucidates how piecemeal legislations have ruled our education system which produces healers for this country. India's healthcare spend: sums up why we are the way we are. An abysmal allocation for healthcare even post pandemic is a cruel joke on Indians whose out-of-pocket expenses is one of the highest in the world. Driving South Asia’s largest private cancer care provider, I have had personal experience of the lack of transparency between government and private healthcare sector, that has led to both not seeing eye to eye even during a pandemic. Covid survivors: which holistically shows there is hope despite all wrongs, as reflected by stories of exceptional resilience and determination in the fight against the deadly virus.
Seethalakshmi and Rahul, both senior journalists commanding a rich newsroom experience of covering the pros and cons of India’s healthcare sector, have authored the four chapters mentioned above. They have effectively pinpointed the successive governmental failures in prioritising the healthcare sector of a country with a population of 130 crore, as also proposed a string of viable solutions to fix this sticky issue.
No book is complete without an expert view. Two chapters, Pandemic CEO and World War C, authored by one of our eminent oncologists Dr US Vishal Rao give an entirely different spin to the pandemic, looking at it from an astute surgeon's eye.
This book highlights the hurdles and challenges for India’s healthcare sector post the pandemic, but more importantly, it offers feasible solutions to help our policy makers to sit up, take notice, and act decisively based on positive intent.
I have always believed that one should never lose hope come what may, something I have told every single patient I have treated in the past four decades. This book is a compelling endorsement of this unflinching belief.
Dr BS Ajaikumar
Executive Chairman
Healthcare Global Enterprises Ltd