Dr. Manjinder Bhatti, Unit Head & MS, Qrg Central Hospital and Research Center, is a NABH assessor, a speaker, a thinker, and an innovator. He has vast experience in healthcare for more than a decade now. He has previously worked with Fortis healthcare as facility director and a pop group of hospitals in Faridabad Manipal. Vedic life care hospital in Nigeria health care department with Haryana state government PGIMS.

QRG Central Hospital and Research Center have a mission to provide international standards of empathetic, specialized clinical & non-clinical care, provide leading-edge technology to accelerate recovery and achieve long-term prevention, provide services that are affordable by all sections of the society. The QRG Central Hospital employs the best-in-class full-time medical practitioners

Multiple avatars and their experiences

Dr. Manjinder shares his experiences, "I feel being a doctor is the most enriching experience as it involves serving humanity and driving society towards a safe and quality life. In the current pandemic experience, doctor professionals have relentlessly worked to fight the virus, reduce mortality, and speed up the recovery. To ensure a safe and healthy environment we need to have a system of ethical and quality healthcare that is transparent and evidence-based. So here comes the role of quality accreditation bodies like NABH, CAHO, and JCI. Being an assessor helps me to guide the various healthcare organization to strive for excellence in patient care and safety by implementing and maintaining the standards based on best practices worldwide. Out of the box, thinking and innovation are essential in the complex world of healthcare which is reeling under tremendous pressure of regulations and cost-effectively. It’s very significant to be innovative so as to provide effective and quality treatment, promotions of green hospitals, telemedicine, and remote robotic surgeries are a few examples. Regular monitoring and improvisation of key performance indices of hospitals are important to optimize the huge cost involved in the healthcare industry. I have always believed that you need to speak up your mind, empty your mind of all doubts and be vocal about systems and processes for further refinement. As a speaker I cherish to express my views and share my experiences with my listeners, you never know which one may fit the situation of theirs and motivate them. Thus to summarize I must say that with the core of a doctor and management professional, all the avatars of thinker, innovator, speaker, and assessor are fully satisfying experience," he says.

Required changes for affordable and accessible healthcare 

Dr. Manjinder sheds light on, "The current and even past epidemic outbreaks have always given us the lesson regarding the importance of primary healthcare across the globe. On one hand, we have to continue making groundbreaking medical advancements like robotics and a technology-driven healthcare ecosystem but on another hand, we also need to strengthen our primary healthcare delivery. The base of any healthcare pyramid is the first level of primary care which if catered effectively can reduce the burden on narrowing the apex of secondary and tertiary cases. All the leading diseases like hypertension, diabetes, and cancer are related to unhealthy lifestyles and can be curbed by modification of habits and lifestyle at the primary level. Prevention and early diagnosis at the first level can be really helpful. However, the significance of secondary and tertiary care cannot be undermined to treat advanced cases. In view of the huge population load and scarcity of resources in India, we shall look for the revamping of primary care, producing more skilled personnel like doctors, nurses, and technicians. Manufacturing of indigenous PPE, ventilators, and other medical equipment has shown us the way to lower down the graph of imports of these items and making healthcare affordable for our citizens. Universal insurance cover at an optimized price is going to be an important pillar in the future of healthcare. Various initiatives of the government like Aayushman Bharat and widened the reach of healthcare to poor and rural India which comprises of majority. However we need to revisit the cost structure of these schemes so as to have maximum participation of private and corporate players which contributes for a major chunk of healthcare infrastructure and manpower," he says.

Source of Motivation 

Dr. Manjinder smiles while informing, "My parents and my desire to continuously learn and evolve drives my motivation. Each one of the above organizations has made me more aware and acquainted with the complex intricacies’ of hospital and healthcare systems in trust, government, and corporate sectors. Resource crunch in government set was never a deterrent but yes a motivation on how to further refine the process and manage with existent infrastructure and staff as patient care is the last word. I remember converting the roof of a gurudwara into a command center in a flood situation and how government healthcare staff reached out to residents with relief and medicine. The smiling face of the discharged patient is the final motivation," he says.

Effect of COVID-19 on the health care system

Dr. Manjinder explains, "It has been a testing time for humanity with over 7.5 million people affected across the globe. The situation has affected the world economy and all industries nevertheless society as a whole. Though the resilience of healthcare and bravery of health professional has been a key aspect of this pandemic. The rapid spread of the virus exposed the vulnerability of masses and inadequacy of personal hygiene and primary care. Healthcare facilities of developed and advanced countries of the world collapsed. Superpowers of the world ran out of beds for its ailing populations. Medical Supplies of Personal protective equipment and lifesaving drugs took turmoil. Covid gave us an important lesson regarding the significance of health education and awareness among the general public. Additional usage of PPE & increased frequency of sanitization increased the cost of healthcare and further enhanced the burden on patients. The scenario is likely to continue till the vaccine is developed against this rapidly spreading, deadly virus. In such a grim scenario there were certain positives from the perspective of India as a nation. The concept of “Aatma-Nirbhar”  by the government motivated many Indian manufacturers and entrepreneurs to produce indigenous bio-medical equipment like ventilators, Bipap & Cpap. Also, the in-house generation of PPE and other safety devices not only reduced our dependence on imports in the developed world but also generated employment in the country. The biggest learning given by covid-19 is the old age saying “prevention is better than cure” we shall protect ourselves by maintaining social distances, hand hygiene, avoiding gatherings, and frequent sanitization," he says.

(Edited by Sana Farid Khan)