‘I want to focus on academics, ethics and building trust’

Dr R K Anand, Medical Director, Jaslok Hospital

Renowned paediatrician, healthcare activist and author Dr R K Anand took over as the medical director of Jaslok Hospital & Research Centre from Dr Vijai Kumar on July 1, 2005. Defying the common trend of successful medicos shying away from administrative jobs, Dr Anand gladly exchanged the reins of managing the paediatric department with managing the hospital, when requested by the management.
An academician, Dr Anand was honoured with the Fellowship of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics and that of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, for his contributions in the field of paediatric education, research and child care. He retired as a professor of paediatrics at the T N Medical College and B Y L Nair Charitable Hospital to join Jaslok Hospital and has been with the group for the last 20 years.
Dr Anand had been an advisor for child care programmes of international organisations like UNICEF, Consumers International, International Baby Food Action Network, World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action, and Health Action International. He was a member of the working group set up by the government of India for formulation of a code for the marketing of baby foods, chairman of the committee for Protection of the Child Consumer of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics, and founder-president of the Association for Consumers Action on Safety and Health(ACASH). Amidst shouldering various responsibilities, Dr Anand also managed time to author bestseller “Dr R K Anand’s Guide to Child Care”.
In an interview with Rita Dutta, the 71-year-old Dr Anand, known for his fierce honesty and uprightness, speaks about his plans for Jaslok Hospital and of various issues close to his heart.

What are the plans up your sleeve for Jaslok Hospital?

I am humbled being asked to take up such an onerous responsibility after working with the hospital for the last 20 years. I want to make the hospital more patient-friendly, so that people trust Jaslok Hospital even more.

We already have a good relationship between patient-doctor and doctor-management. Now, I want to focus on an even better communication with the patient and the family.

Also, I want to leverage our excellent medical faculty to project Jaslok as one of the best academic institutes. We have recognition for 20 DNB courses for post graduate training. We have a unique DNB course for family medicine.

We also have collaboration with Stanford University for teleconferencing. In September, they would be conducting a conference along with our faculty on various aspects of cancer. We also have 49 ongoing research projects in various specialties. Encouraging our doctors to pursue academics, we allow them to go abroad for CME or a conference every three years, the cost being borne by the hospital.

I will continue to work with the management to provide free treatment to poor patients. It is a misconception that charitable hospitals do not give free treatment. Last year, Jaslok treated 1,600 free indoor patients (10.57 per cent) and 5,858 (38.75 per cent) subsidised indoor patients. Also in the same year, we treated 35,774 (49.32 per cent) free outpatients.

Is there any initiative that you want to take as an activist?

As president of Moral Rearmament and founder president of ACASH, I want to lay emphasis on ethics and values in our profession and adopt a more humane approach to the patients who come to our hospital.

Most people deem Hinduja Hospital as the best hospital in Mumbai in terms of quality of service. Where is Jaslok losing out?

I don’t think we are losing out. Look at our occupancy rate. It varies from 70 to 80 per cent. Last year, we had 417 foreign patients. We have 250 consultants, considered the best in the country. We have excellent relationship with the staff as well as the nurse’s union.

Why Jaslok does not have a grievance cell for patients?

Our medical superintendent and one of our trustee go through all the written complaints. Besides that, we have one social worker and two medical social workers. In our core-committee meeting held every day, we discuss the complaints, if any. Even my door is open to patients. We like to answer each and every complaint that we receive.

Please brief me about your campaign against advertisement of baby foods and promotion of breastfeeding.

Breast milk contains enzymes, antibodies and immunising agents, being an ideal form of nutrition. It requires no mixing or sterilisation, is always available at the right temperature and is virtually free of charge. It strengthens the psychological bond between mother and child.

However, infants were switching off to commercial baby foods, due to the aggressive advertising by multinationals like Glaxo and Nestle. Artificial feeding is especially dangerous in a developing country like India, where people lack facilities of sterilising the bottle properly and don’t have adequate income to afford the milk powder.

India has the highest number of under- five child deaths in the world. According to WHO and UNICEF, about 1.5 million babies can be saved each year by increasing breastfeeding during the first six months.

As a part of the worldwide network called IBFAN (International Baby Food Action Network), I was involved in the drafting and enactment of the Infant Milk Substitutes Act 1993 for restricting the aggressive marketing of baby foods and feeding bottles.

ACASH and Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI) of which I am an advisor got the Union Government to further strengthen the Infant Milk Substitutes Act of 1993 and ban advertisements and promotions of baby foods for children below the age of two. The ban went into effect from November 1, 2003.

We have taken the violators to the court, but I never had any personal grudge against them. Even in the middle of the night, when I was approached for treatment of a relative of an MNC involved in promotion of baby foods, I have rendered my best service. But after the treatment was over, I told them that what they were doing professionally was incorrect.

Please comment on paediatric care facility in the country.

I have worked in the US and Europe, and I can proudly state that India does not lack in paediatric care facility. We have such institutes like AIIMS, PGI, CMC Vellore etc. Among the private hospitals, Jaslok is one of the best. About our paediatric department, I take pride in saying that apart from having excellent doctors, we are very academically-oriented and have excellent inter-personal relationship. Jaslok has been recognised as a baby-friendly hospital because of its ideal breastfeeding practices.

What are your suggestions to improve paediatric care in the country?

We have to focus more on nutrition, which would reduce mortality, morbidity and hospitilisation to a major extent. We propagate exclusive breastfeeding, adding home-made complementary foods after six months and laying special emphasis on the nutrition of the girl child, the adolescent and the mother. We propagate treatment of diarrhea with ORS and diet. We want to encourage rational use of drugs and oppose irrational drug combinations.

Would you get time to practice paediatric medicine?

Yes, in the evenings for two hours, I will be with my child patients.

You were a professor, a consultant paeditrician, an activist, and now a medical director. What next?

That’s for God to decide. I listen to my inner voice and take up challenges as and when required.

rita_dutta@rediffmail.com