Room for improvement

I returned to Kolkata yesterday evening. The traffic and the queue at the airport seemed a tad lesser than the usual. Even the events are fewer after the hectic Pujas. Delhi, in contrast, is abuzz with pre-Diwali festivities and the parties are in full swing.

I attended the Indian Federation of United Nations Association (IFUNA) function at Hotel Ashok banquets after a short trip from Amritsar. I met Dr N Trehan in Delhi, the man behind Medanta Medicity, a massive medical care set up with state-of-the-art equipment and facilities at Gurgaon that is currently operational with 600 beds. This medical centre is expected to have a total of 1600 beds, including suites, deluxe rooms, single and double rooms for the patients, in another three months.

India needs more such advanced medical infrastructure and facilities considering the growing population and the current state of medical care. However, there is another question that is nagging me. Are good facilities and the best equipment enough to run such huge medical centres.

Not really! I think without a good hospital management and administration system in place the latest equipment and other facilities can hardly serve its true purpose. In fact, human resource management in the health sector is as or even more important than any physical infrastructure or facilities. Medanta Medicity too needs to address this aspect.

My first impressions of this gargantuan marvel of a medical facility at Gurgaon was that I was awestruck by the sheer size and scale of operations and the ambience. But I felt there is room for improvement in certain areas of hospital administration. Especially in the mid-level administration and management. Something that looks great, at the end of the day, must also make you feel great.

At the IFUNA function, I met the officials of Bharat Soka Gakkai. Soka Gakkai is one of the world's leading NGO headquartered in Japan. I also met Dr Sheshadri Chari who'd be going to China this week as a part of the Indian IFUNA delegation. I have been to China as part of IFUNA delegation sometime ago and was very impressed by the growth of Shanghai and Beijing.

I remember after coming back from China I wrote an article for a magazine in which I said that it seems we live in a different version of Communism in Bengal. This feeling of mine was based on the strong discipline, respect for time and punctuality and the law-abiding qualities of the Chinese citizens.

Right now, issues like the Chinese visa for Kashmiris and the disputes over Arunachal Pradesh have kept China in the news here at home.

ess bee