Rural Healthcare particularly healthcare of the poor is an unfulfilled dream of many Prime Ministers ever since Independence.
NV Paulose
Prof. Dr. N. Sridhar Shetty is the former President of Indian Dental Council. He was founder Dean of one of the premium dental colleges in India; AB Shetty Memorial Institute of Dental Sciences. AB Shetty was former Health Minister of Madras Presidency and then Karnataka; who was a visionary by himself. ABSMIDS was started by Justice KS Hegde, former Supreme Court Judge and Lok Sabha Speaker along with his illustrious son N. Vinaya Hegde. Educational excellence of the group had become Nitte University in the year 2010.
Rural Healthcare formula practically developed by Prof. Dr. N. Sridhar Shetty had made AB Shetty Memorial Institute of Dental Sciences to become one of the premium dental colleges in India. Prof. Dr. N. Sridhar Shetty had been the Principal and Dean of the college for 21 years. Thereafter he had continued as a Director there for another 15 years.
Prof. Dr. N. Sridhar Shetty had practiced a model of extended campuses for the benefit of rural poor. It had benefited his students equally as well. Large facilities and resources of Teaching Medical Colleges can be utilized for reaching out tertiary healthcare to rural India and to give it free of cost to the rural poor. Today; all medical colleges are mushroomed in large cities.
Government can either introduce incentive policies for existing medical colleges like additional medical seats for extended services or can sanction 300 New Medical Colleges across the country in a very systematic rural spread in next three years.
Prof. Dr. N. Sridhar Shetty’s model is Multi Roof Medical Colleges which is perfectly in match with National Education Policy and Vision of the Government. Digital Connectivity makes it more feasible and flexible. Availability of land at less prices make it more easier to set up medical facilities in rural areas. Multi Roof Medical College will help to give justice to an area of Two Hundred Kilometers with one Medical College. Plenty of medical facilities; particularly the teaching professors and large student force are classically wasted in todays scenario. Prof. Dr. N. Sridhar Shetty had put all of them into action and made them efficient and effective while his dream to reach out to the rural areas were fulfilled.
Tertiary Healthcare at the doorsteps of the rural households free of cost!
AWARENESS – ACCESSIBILITY – AVAILABILITY & AFFORDABILITY
A Nucleus tertiary care medical college hospital with 300 bed capacity at the center in a rural area and 5 Tertiary care medical college apex hospital with 100 bed capacity; each of them fifty kilometers away from the nucleus hospital and ten to twenty 30 to 50 beds emergency care tertiary hospital to reach out to the remaining areas to benefit 50,000 rural households to get tertiary medical care free of cost. The medical college should take the responsibility of creating public healthcare and systemic healthcare awareness for the people and should make tertiary healthcare easily accessible and readily available for the people free of cost. This is the formula in summary. This is Practical and Possible for a visionary government to implement and there will be many institutions ready to take it up instantly.
But to make it practically implement is not as easy as it is written in the paper. The invisible resources to put into action need dynamic leaderships at implementation level and a non-corrupt mechanism at supervisory and regulatory levels. While retired visionary professors can join at the supervisory level on service mode; there need to be a model developed in line with All India Medical Sciences as an autonomous body determined and capable to implement the project as envisioned and practically proved by Prof. Dr. N. Sridhar Shetty. He is 80 years young and very dynamic and capable to take it up as a challenge.
Prof. Dr. N. Sridhar Shetty had received prestigious BC Roy Award from President KR Narayanan for this rural mission (Medical and Social Relief) when implemented in dental fraternity and general medical awareness campaign. His model was also extended to Medical colleges successfully through KS Hegde Medical Academy. Twenty satellite medical hospitals are serving the rural population in this model that is additionally established beyond regulatory requirement.
