May 12, 2010--Travel to India Journal

Today we met with the Center for Sustainable Development including the CEO, Jaganatha Rao and the Former Chief Secretary Dr. Ravindra, this was a very enlightening experience. Many of the same issues that face the U.S. are here in India in the same form however multiplied by the vast amounts of people. Rao gave us a great introduction to what sustainable development means for India. I found it particularly interesting how much they believe in the relationship of NGOs and the government. NGOs, much like in the U.S. are a catalyst to reach the diverse populations of India. Another interesting topic we discussed with him was corporate social responsibility. The concept is so widely accepted because of the general outlook of responsibility and protection of people in India. In the U.S. there is so much banter about CSR and why an organizations money is being invested in it while people are being laid off. Rao also gave us an introduction to e-waste, which I have done a lot of research on for Environmental Policy Analysis, I found that the information he presented was pretty accurate to the info that is available to us. He talked mostly about the growing sector just in India and not so much to the importation of hazardous wastes, which is an additional problem.
We moved on to GTZ, which is a funding agency that creates programs to improve the informal sector of e-waste management which drives 80% of the whole sector. They spoke a lot about the idea of trying to incorporate workers in the informal sector into the formal, more sustainable sector. However, the lady mentioned that the value systems of the poor people who pick through dumping grounds are very different. They are not economically driven so empowering them through to change their work is very difficult. I found it amazing how much they respect these people despite their inability to comply with formal regulations.
After the e-waste center we stopped for a nice lunch at a hotel on Brigade St. and went on our way to the Narayanan Hospital. The tandoori chaat and icecream (which tastes like marshmallows) were my favorite at lunch.
When we first arrived at the hospital we didn't know what to expect but we left with so much information and respect for what this hospital is doing.
A lady, Sherya, greeted us and would be our leader for the afternoon. She first showed us a building out in front that encompassed the philosophy of the hotel. The building included four parts for worship including Christianity, Judaism, Hindu, and Muslim. I think religion in the U.S. is not as mindful of the vast differences between religions, and I respect how much Indians understand of religions outside of their own. The hospital had, I think...things started to get fuzzy by this time...3 units...cardiology, eye, and a multi-disciplinary building. Each building has over 1000 beds. The cardiology unit is the biggest in the world. They showed us some of the amazing technology including radiation therapy, the telecommunications for medicinal outreach, as well as the post op pediatric unit. They took us into the pediatric ICU which was so amazing to see all the little babies hooked up and being taken care of. The babies are taken care of on a 1:1 ration, which is AMAZING.
The missions of the hospital is to be able to provide healthcare to the masses which is exactly what India needs. Being a privately owned organization it is amazing what they are doing. They pride themselves in their ability offer affordable healthcare. The hospital sets a quota of how ever many patients they need to see daily and then anything over this, the money made is given to offer care for someone who can not afford it. This model is also used as an incentive for the staff (who are referred to as "working partners") to want to serve as many people as possible as the amount served over the quota, the staff make more money. What a great incentive structure. I feel that if this was a government agency there would be no inventive to serve which would limit availability to so many. With such a large population healthcare is a problem but Dr. Devi Shetty's vision made a big impact.
Abhay Singavi game us some homework to look up reports on his website about the differences in U.S. healthcare and healthcare at the Narayan Hrudayala Hospital. I can imagine the differences are immense. However it is interesting to see as our country switches from private to public health care that a private hospital in India can strive so far. They are definitely an inspiration to us.
I want to look more into how the hospital actually supports itself (aside from grants). Also the telecommunications structure is amazing. As most Indians can not travel that far they can diagnose cases by meeting over telecom. This has allowed them to reach more people without costly an enormous amount of money to the hospital or the patient.

Other fun things about today:

• Singing girl at the hospital
• Bats at the swimming pool
• Extreme Exhaustion
• Sapna hung out with us ALLLLL day
• Driving on the big highway to get to the hospital, which was lobbied for by the hospital to allow easy access for people. This is definitely a testament to BIG infrastructure
• Food at the hotel: Bacon and Eggs for breakfast, Hakka noodles for dinner
• The buckets in the showers are for traditional people who don't use the showerhead.
• Delicious tea at the CSD
• Sapna's fiance is a rapper!