Welcome to the first edition of the Viewpoint for 2016. Campus is already abuzz with the countdown to the Tata Social Enterprise Challenge which will be held between 13-16th January. Our student team has been working round the clock to ensure a meaningful period on campus for our twenty finalists who will be joining us from the 13th for the pre-event workshop.
This edition has a health sector orientation, with the lead article on PatientsEngage by founder Aparna Mittal. PatientsEngage is a healthcare platform to support patients and caregivers confronted with managing chronic conditions. Aparna is an alumnus of IIM Calcutta (PGP 23rd batch), and we are thrilled to have her share her work with us. Ankita Lal, a second year PGP student at IIMC, draws from her experience in working with Blood Connect in New Delhi to make her case for how voluntary blood donation needs systemic efforts. Padmavathy Dhillon, currently enrolled in the Fellow Programme at IIMC draws our attention to the laudable efforts of Doctors For You at disaster management during the recent floods at Chennai and Assam as well as during the Nepal Earthquake.
In recent developments, Anosh Lepcha, second year PGP student, shares the work around career guidance he and colleagues have been engaged in through Bato4Hills. We have many roundtables and seminars coming up across the country.
Read on, join us for our roundtables when we visit your city, and do write to us with your views.
Wishing you a happy and meaningful year ahead!
Devi
By Aparna Mittal - founder of PatientsEngage, alumnus of IIM Calcutta (PGP 23rd Batch)
Most healthcare happens at home. But do people have the right information needed to make the right choices, not just for themselves but also for their family members?.
What do you do when someone close to you has a health problem? You consult a doctor, obviously. But, more than that you will Google it to find out all that you can about the ailment, the treatment but more importantly you try and find out what someone who has been through the condition has to share. There are numerous online forums where people discuss their experiences. However, most of them have a Western orientation and are often lacking Asian or Indian context.
Medical care has become increasingly fragmented. With the growing disappearance of the family physician, it is up to the patient or his family to take a holistic view of his health .
Looking after a person with chronic medical condition(s) – be it your own or a family member’s is a very challenging and isolating experience.There is lack of knowledge, association of stigma and an absence of a support network.
PatientsEngage, an enterprise with social impact, is a patient/caregiver focused healthcare platform for supporting the management of chronic diseases. We want to be the first site for any chronic health related issue in Asian markets.
PatientsEngage empowers people to take charge of their own or a family member’s health by
-informing them of localised medical,lifestyle and care choices.
– by connecting them to products and services they need in their patient care journey
– by belonging to a community that shares similar issues and experiences
PatientsEngage now offers content and discussions on 50 ailments and conditions, including alzheimer’s and dementia, cancer, arthritis, diabetes, depression, anxiety disorder, insomnia, migraine, autism spectrum disorder and cerebral palsy. We have tied up with organisations such as the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorder Society of India.
PatientsEngage has doctors, dieticians, counsellors, rehabilitation specialists, fitness trainers and other experts on its panel to contribute articles and participate in discussions.
PatientsEngage has about 5,000 registered users and gets about 75,000 page views a month. Most of the marketing is done on social media. In addition, a large number of users are referring the site to others.
The content on the site is free for the users. We are working with the lifescience industry(pharma, medical devices) and other research organisations on patient and caregiver focused research and other engagement strategies. We would also partner with care services and product suppliers to allow users to access the services easily from a single platform.
Healthcare is probably the biggest issue facing the human race. As we live longer, we need to make the right lifestyle choices that will enable us to age well. And we need to start now, not after we are old. By staying abreast of the latest information, we can take charge of our lives, the lives of our loved ones and put ourselves back in the centre of the healthcare system.
By Padmavathy Dhillon
India was ranked 4th globally in terms of total reported disasters in 2011 with the most vulnerable group being children and women. With the goal of ‘building a disaster resilient India’, Doctors For You (DFY) was founded in India in 2007 by a group of concerned doctors and medical students. DFY plans to achieve its vision of “Health For All” by rendering medical services to the people who need it the most but cannot afford it. Operating through its five main offices in India at Mumbai, Delhi, Patna, Guwahati and Srinagar, DFY primarily aims at building and providing: 1) Disaster preparedness and capacity building, 2) Primary health care services, 3) Disaster relief and response, 4) Emergency health response team, and, 5) Centre for Research and Innovation in Public Health management which is a joint initiative of Doctors For You and an Incubation Cell at Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata (IIM-C).
The team of DFY consisting of 22 permanent employees and 1000+ volunteers is working day and night on various national and international projects. DFY have successfully completed eight projects since 2007. Most important of these include Uttarakhand Flood Relief response, 2013; Assam Ethnic Violence Relief work, 2012; Operation Bihar, 2008; Mankurd Slum (Mumbai) Health project, 2008. Year 2015 has been really bad for India with natural calamities like floods (Chennai and Assam Floods) and earthquakes (catastrophic Nepal earthquake and the more recent Mizoram earthquake) striking with regularity and causing massive upheaval and immense loss of precious lives and property. DFY were quick in providing immediate aid in the form of health care outreach activities in flood affected areas of Chennai, Assam and earthquake devastated regions of North East India and Nepal. Thanks to their dedication, people’s lives were saved and affected communities are still being helped to cope. These relief activities are in the form of providing clean water, sanitation, reproductive and primary health care etc. and conducting hygiene awareness campaigns.
DFY have received the SAARC Award in 2008 for ‘Outstanding contribution to humanitarian works in the aftermath of the disasters’ for Bihar Flood Response work, the prestigious British Medical Journal Group Award in 2011 for the ‘best Medical team in crisis zone’, and recently the Ruby Jubilee Healthcare Award in 2015 for its outstanding contribution to maternal and child health care. Keep up the good work DFY!!
By Anosh Lepcha - 2nd year PGDM student at IIM Calcutta
‘Bato’ in Nepali, means a way or a path. With Bato4hills, we hope to provide guidance to the young people from the hills (Himalayan region & the North-East) and bring about a change in their perspective regarding education, career opportunities and self sutainability.
Why ? – If we were to talk statistics, Darjeeling district has a literacy rate of 79.5 %, which is above the Indian average 74% (Census 2011) but where the district lags behind is in the lack of knowledge of employment opportunities. Also what is generally seen is that the students are neither aware nor well equipped to meet the demands of a job in the city. This leads to a lot of youths being unemployed and hence frustrated. Which, in turn, gives rise to lot of other social problems like drug abuse, alcohol abuse, human trafficking, etc. They all make for a common headline in local newspapers nowadays. A similar picture can be drawn out in the North-Eastern states. With this bleak picture mapping out a youth’s future, we hope that through the initiatives we take up, we are able to impact lives of these young people to guide them towards a brighter future.
Who ? – I stared this initiative a year back, in January 2015 with a career counselling session for the students in a small village called Gitdabling in Kalimpong, West Bengal. With time, I started to pull in friends and seniors from various backgrounds like law, medical science, humanities, engineering, MBA and those with careers in the corporates, Indian Army, NGOs and the civil services. Of now, the core group comprises of Ms. Reep Rachel Lepcha (B.A.LL.B – Symbiosis Law School, Pune), Ms. Padma Khanal (B.Com – St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata) and myself. Outside this core group lies a bigger spectrum of individuals who help us by providing interview videos, bringing in contacts for various sessions and mentoring us. Most of us are recent college graduates or young professionals which make for a very dynamic and effective group.
We also have a Facebook page which is a great tool to inform people regarding our initiatives and to reach out where help is needed.
What ? Till now, we have been able to reach out to more than 200 students in 5 different locations (4 in Kalimpong and 1 in Kolkata) through coordination with non-profit organisations, schools and local communities like self help groups. In these sessions, we have provided career counselling to school students as well as college going students. Some of our immediate initiative in the near future includes preparing college graduates for job interviews through trainings sessions on interview and CV making.
By Ankita - PGDM student at IIM Calcutta
A very pertinent problem in society today is the basic healthcare challenge of blood shortage in India. Of particular gravity are the deaths due to shortage of safe blood for the needy, especially during times of Dengue (monsoons), and for diseases that require repeated blood transfusions.
Despite being a country with a population of 1.2 billion, India faces a blood shortage of 3 million units. This problem can easily be eliminated if only an additional 2% of India’s youth donates blood, according to health experts. Statistics show that there are 234 million major operations in India, 63 million trauma-induced surgeries, 31 million cancer-related procedures and 10 million pregnancy related complications which require blood transfusions. Apart from these there are also disorders like sickle cell anemia, thalassemia and hemophilia that require repeated blood transfusions. The shelf-life of donated blood is 35 to 42 days. There is a constant need to replenish stocks in our blood banks. There are a number of factors responsible for this prevalent problem of blood shortage in India.
Social Factors
Some social factors perpetuating the shortage of blood in blood banks today include the lack of motivation in people or fear of donating blood. High level of illiteracy in this matter plays a pivotal role. A misconception people have is that they would not be able to work or would become weak after donating blood. There is also the myth of transmission of AIDS because of use of infected needles while withdrawing blood by hospitals.
There are other problems like lack of organization of blood donation camps frequently for people to donate blood. People would rarely visit a hospital specifically to donate blood unless there is a requirement. Advantages of donating blood are also unknown to people. Currently, there are no Government policies to ensure transparency of availability of blood across hospitals. There is no single portal which can show the availability of blood for patient’s convenience. Thus, lack of information about the availability of blood in hospitals and blood banks leads to deaths due to shortage of blood in that respective area. Also, there is very little synergy between the Central Government and State Government managed hospitals.
Cultural Factors
A major cultural barrier which leads to the shortage of blood in India is lack of people who would voluntarily donate blood without any incentive. The entire activity of organization of camps, volunteering with residential societies, offices, etc. undertaken by the likes of Rotaract Club, Lion Club, etc. is voluntary. Hence, there is dearth of finding volunteers who would be willing to work for this cause without incentive.
Again, there are NGOs working for this cause separately but there is no synergy in their actions.
Economic Factors
A very common reason why several people die due to shortage of blood is that they do not have funds for even a pint of blood (in case of private hospitals) or any replacement donor (in case of Government hospitals or blood banks).
Blood banks and hospitals also require funds to process the blood that they collect through camps, etc. which poses another major economic challenge.
A lot of people have this notion that blood that they donate voluntarily would be sold off at a very high rate without their knowledge. These are some reasons which lead to lack of enthusiasm in people to donate blood, and hence the shortage of blood supply in India.
Alternatively, there are some professional donors who donate just for money. Donating blood for any kind of incentives should strictly be discouraged.
The Solution
As youth, we have a lot of skill sets that can be put to use to solve this particular issue. One of them, the easiest one, is just donating blood regularly. Any individual between the age of 18 and 65 can donate blood once every 3 months without any health risks. But this is not a sustainable solution. In order to achieve something long lasting, the solution has to be systemic.
I feel that the solution lies not just in donating blood once in 3 months but also in making available blood 24X7 for everyone. This can only be done if blood banks have sufficient blood. People need to be sensitized towards this problem so they can go ahead and donate in blood donation camps happening around them.
An enterprise, that combines blood donation camps organization, awareness sessions, 24X7 helpline while also establishing a network of youth, would be ideal. One such organization is BloodConnect (website – http://www.bloodconnect.org), started from the heart of India – Delhi and fast expanding to several other Tier I and Tier II cities.
BloodConnect is a youth run non-profit NGO that works to give a 360 degree solution to the problem of blood shortage in India. They have a network of college-going youth across multiple cities who work towards the following –
More of such initiatives are definitely the need of the hour in India.
By Satish Kumar Burra Founder and CEO - Organic Thali
OrganicThali has adopted a mission to encourage organic farming while serving food prepared from pesticides and chemical-free ingredients without compromising on taste.
Satish Kumar Burra Founder and CEO of Organic Thali has a Masters in Computers and a decade of IT Consulting experience. He is passionate about making farming holistic and about making food free from Pesticides. Organic Thali is based out of Hyderabad.
The Approach:
OrganicThali pre-orders grains and vegetables from farmers with a buy-back guarantee, and pays above market prices. Organic Thali then cooks delicious meals designed by renowned nutritionists made with these 100% organic ingredients and serves these nutritious, chemical-free meals at their client locations which currently include Tech Mahindra, Ge and Synchrony.
Impact:
With the current number of thalis, Organic Thali has improved the health and Income of 24 farmers, created employment for around 100 farm labours and restored eco-logical balance in 30 acres. Currently, about 15 youth from the villages where we are operational are employed at OrganicThali and have helped us serve more than 30000 pesticide free thalis in last 6 months. This impact will increase as our sales increase.
The top 20 teams will be competing against each other at the 4th Tata Social Enterprise Challenge from 13- 16 January 2016 at the IIM C campus.
The semi-finals will take place on 14 January and the finals are scheduled to take place on 16 January.
We will also have a Social Entrepreneurship Summit on 15th January 2016 where eminent social entrepreneurs from the local region and the TSEC top 20 teams will interact with experts and Impact Investors.
For more details visit: www.tatasechallenge.org or www.facebook.com/tatasechallenge
For more details: http://www.tiss.edu/workshops-seminars-conferences-programme/national-conference-on-methodological-issues-in-social-entrepreneurship
An International B-Plan completion endeavouring to provide an ideal platform for budding entrepreneurs to realize their dreams as we connect them to ideas, money and people who matter. Being one of the largest process of its kind in scale and scope in India it is sure to attract serious entrepreneurs via our networks in the National Entrepreneurship Network, Pan IIM and IIT alumni networks and a large base of working professionals. The core philosophy behind this event has been to not judge a ‘B-plan’ but to make a robust plan ready to spread its wings.
To know more visit: http://ecelliimc.org/ideas.php
“Thinking Social” Roundtable to be held in Chennai on January 28, 2016. The event is scheduled to be conducted between 2:00-6:00 P.M. The theme of the round table is “Providing Affordable Healthcare”.
“Thinking Social” – one of our flagship events is conducted in partnership with the TATA group. As part of this initiative, IIMCIP conducts several seminars, roundtables and lecture series across India which culminates into our flagship business plan contest called – The Tata Social Enterprise challenge.
The participation to this roundtable is free, to register write to tsec@iimcip.org for more details visitwww.tatasechallenge.org.
IIM Calcutta Innovation Park in association with Mizoram University is organizing a Seminar on “Thinking Social” on 22 Feb 2016 at Mizoram.
“Thinking Social” – one of our flagship events is conducted in partnership with the TATA group. The primary objective of this event is to build awareness on social entrepreneurship, generate interest and inspire the young generation to come up with innovative solutions to social challenges.
As part of this initiative, IIMCIP conducts several seminars, roundtables and lecture series across India which culminates into our flagship business plan contest called – The Tata Social Enterprise challenge.
The speakers of this seminar comprise eminent academicians and social entrepreneurs who have established their own outstanding ventures and have impacted the lives of thousands of people. To know more visit: www.tatasechallenge.org
IIM Calcutta Innovation Park in association with Shivnadar University is organizing a Seminar on “Thinking Social” on 27 Feb 2016 at Noida.
“Thinking Social” – one of our flagship events is conducted in partnership with the TATA group. The primary objective of this event is to build awareness on social entrepreneurship, generate interest and inspire the young generation to come up with innovative solutions to social challenges.
As part of this initiative, IIMCIP conducts several seminars, roundtables and lecture series across India which culminates into our flagship business plan contest called – The Tata Social Enterprise challenge.
The speakers of this seminar comprise eminent academicians and social entrepreneurs, who have established their own outstanding ventures and have impacted the lives of thousands of people. To know more visit: www.tatasechallenge.org