New Delhi: Marking a milestone for India in the global health sector, renowned paediatrician and a clinical scientist, Dr Soumya Swaminathan was recently appointed the Deputy Director General of programmes (DDP) of the World Health Organisation (WHO). She is the first Indian to hold one of the highest ranks in the WHO.
This week on Off Centre Anuradha Sengupta speaks to Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, Director General of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). On the show, she speaks about a plethora of topics – from her new role to the challenges in achieving Universal Health Coverage in India and preventing tragedies like the recent deaths of children in Gorakhpur’s Medical College.
Talking about benefits for India from WHO, Dr Swaminathan says, “WHO played an absolutely critical role in the eradication of small pox. It was one of the WHO DG's vision who made it possible. There was a vaccine therefore, it could be eliminated. No one thought India could eliminate so quickly. India has been free from polio since 2011 and we have become a shining example because most people didn't believe that India could eliminate polio and WHO had very important role to play in that.
On being asked about the Gorakhpur’s recent tragedy she says, "The tragedy which you've seen recently highlights the fact that there were deficiencies in many different levels and I can give u an example from a research that we did in Gorakhpur, we found 70% of the parents of the children who had been admitted to the medical colleges said that they have only consulted quacks before they came to medical college. They did not go to primary health centre or government facility and not even a qualified private practitioner they went to quacks.”
Commenting on how WHO will benefit from her, she says, “India is a nation within nations with world class healthcare facilities. In some of our urban areas, doctors are better experts than anywhere else and on the other hand few kilometers out of these big mega cities and you see poverty, you see people malnourished and undernourished, very poor access to quality healthcare, being exploited by quacks, complete extremes.
Therefore, one has seen both ends. One has seen how healthcare can be delivered and how it can help people to live a long and healthy life; on the other hand, you have seen how deprivation leads to pre mature deaths and living with a lot of chronic burden. So, I think this kind of exposure gives you a very realistic view and also an aspiration, something you can aim for but at the same time based in reality and pragmatism, so I believe there is no point in making guidelines and recommendations which can never be implemented, one has to balance what is ideal with what is pragmatic and feasible.”
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