Padma Bhushan awardee, Dr Neelam Kler, Chairperson, Department of Neonatology, Centre for Child Health, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital talks about her experiences of being a woman healthcare professional in India, with Lakshmipriya Nair
Congratulations on receiving the Padma Bhushan. What are the major milestones in your illustrious career?
Thanks, it is a great honour. I also feel it is a great responsibility to do better. I think my returning back to India about 25 years back and the decision to practice neonatology, a speciality about which I was passionate and was trained for, was a turning point in my life. Many of my friends thought I was mad because neonatology as speciality was unknown, not only to the lay man but also among many in the medical fraternity. But, that was the time when Government of India, Ministry of Health, and large NGOs like WHO, UNICEF were beginning to focus on the huge burden of neonatal mortality and morbidity in India as well as the need for an action plan. There were not many hospitals in India with neonatal intensive care beds. I had the support of Gangaram Hospital in developing a state-of-the-art department and neonatal intensive care unit. We were the pioneers to start a three-year, National Board of Education accredited, post-graduate programme to increase neonatal fraternity and post graduates which gave a huge boost to clinical services academics research. My association with national and international organisations like National Neonatal Forum of India and Federation of Asia Oceania Perinatal Organisation gave me the opportunity to work on a larger canvas of health issues among women and newborns in India and globally. My recent endeavours for reducing healthcare associated infections have brought me closer to like-minded people, nationally and internationally, which has opened new doors to improve health outcomes.
How has healthcare evolved during the course of your career?
I can see great change in private medicine with bigger hospitals and better healthcare infrastructure. But, at the same time, there is lot of over diagnosis, over treatment and absence of evidence-based practices. We need to have accreditation of healthcare systems, as well as, internal and external audits on benchmarked outcomes. It is very pertinent to have quality in healthcare. Public healthcare has come a long way but still infrastructure is weak and there is severe shortage of healthcare workers. Moreover, the fact is that a huge population cannot afford private medicine and has to rely on a public healthcare system!
How is the playing ground for women in healthcare?
When I was a medical student, 35 years back, the number of females in a medical batch would be about 10 per cent, now it is 50 per cent. There are not only more women getting into the medical profession but also joining streams like surgery where there were less number of women. I think women are doing excellent in the medical profession.
What are the major challenges faced by women professionals? Is gender bias one of them?
This question is very frequently asked by people from developed world. I think at professional levels, like among doctors, it is not a very strong factor. They accept you as equal provided you remain very professional in your attitude and don’t ask for any favours or special exemptions. Presently, I see a lot of change in young females. They are more confident and there is more acceptance by our society.
Tell us about your work on improving neonatal intensive care
We, at Gangaram Hospital, have come a long way. We have facilities to provide high frequency ventilation, brain monitoring, providing nitric oxide for babies with respiratory failure and starting ECMO and brain cooling for asphyxiated babies. But, at the same time, we are working on improving quality of healthcare, reducing risk of healthcare associated infections and focusing on clinical research.
Many Indian states have not met MDG 4 goals. How to accelerate growth in these spheres?
If you see the states which have not done so well as far as MDG goals are concerned i.e. they are the states which have poor governance, poor literacy rates, and women are marginalised, unlike women in states which are performing better. I work with a healthcare NGO called Basic Health. They look after the healthcare of poor migrant labourers in rural areas of Udaipur. Over there you would find that there are school buildings but there is a dearth of teachers. There are health centres without effective health workers. So, even if you have some infrastructure if the system is not working then it is of no use. We have to make sure that two most important areas for development of any country, education and health, receive adequate focus and they are available in urban and rural areas and most needy population. Only then can we expect development.
What is your message for other women professionals in India?
In modern India, professional women will have a great role to play. The most vulnerable people in a society are women and children. Professional women have to become the voice for these million voiceless, speaking for equality, empowerment and education. When they achieve that they will ask for the right to better health with dignity.
lakshmipriya.nair@xpressindia.com
