Articles in Experts Speak
“A doctor is seldom aware of the environmental aspect of hospital planning”
…says Dr R Chandrashekhar, Chief Architect, Central Bureau Design, Directorate General – Health Services, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. Venturing into the less traversed field of Medical Architecture, the first person in India to have a PhD in this field, he has contributed almost 24 years of his career designing and planning hospitals.
‘There is a huge radiologist shortage; it is a tip of the iceberg issue’
I decided to pursue radiology a long while ago. It is an excellent field for medical graduates with a good verbal and visual sense. In essence, it requires a keen understanding of the subtleties of the radiographic image. Having analysed the image, the radiologist needs to communicate the findings in a coherent and precise manner in the form of a clinically relevant report.
‘Our deficiency is that only 1 per cent of the laboratories deliver quality, compared to 50 per cent of the West’
Dr A Velumani, Chief Executive Officer, Thyrocare Technologies Ltd, was born in 1958 in Appanaickenpatti Pudur (District – Coimbatore), Tamil Nadu, in a farmer’s family. He completed his BSc Chemistry from Madras University followed by MSc in Biochemistry from Bombay University. After being awarded a PhD for his research on Thyroid, 14 years of teaching and a long career as a Scientific Officer in Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) specialising in Radio Immuno Assay (RIA), he was ready to take the first step towards entrepreneurship. He decided to quit his government job at BARC and started Thyrocare with an investment of ` 1 lakh. His aim was to provide this cost-effective service at uniform rates throughout the length and breadth of India.
Dr Devi Prasad Shetty, Chairman and Managing Director, Narayana Hrudayalaya, Bengaluru
Dr. Shetty is the Chairman of Narayana Hrudayalaya. He is also a member of Medical Council of India’s Board of Governors. At India Healthcare Awards 2010, recently hosted by ICICI Lombard General Insurance and CNBC-TV18, Narayana Hrudayalaya won the Specialty Hospital award in the field of cardiology and Dr Shetty also received an award for ‘driving affordable and quality healthcare for all’. To top it all, this world renowned cardiologist has been awarded the Padma Shri for Medicine in 2004. Excerpts from the exclusive conversation with Modern Medicare.
