Achievers

Every month Express Healthcare highlights uncommon achievements of doctors and other professionals and contributors to the healthcare industry. To nominate your employees/colleagues for Achievers, mail healthcare@expressindia.com and we will get in touch with you!

The Hand that Rocks the Cradle

The new President of Federation of Obstetrics & Gynecological Societies of India (FOGSI), Dr Pankaj Desai (49), has many plans up his sleeve. This Associate Professor & Chief of Unit, Department of Ob Gyn Medical College and SSG Hospital, Baroda, has unvieled 'Jagruti', an awareness campaign against maternal mortality. "It will now be our endeavor to spread messages of safe-motherhood to the masses. Harnessing the power of popular media of mass communication, we intend to generate a mass awakening movement which we call as Jagruti."

He also has plans to produce docu-dramas, which will be aired all over India. "Today, radio has a 99.37 per cent reach and TV has 87 per cent. Relaying messages of safe motherhood will help us convey these to the pregnant mothers, her decision-makers and her family care-takers, in the most inaccessible and remote parts of the country," he hopes. You cannot get academics away from a teacher, so he has envisioned Gyan Prakashan Yatra, which will conduct CMEs on the latest advances in technology. "There will be a satellite down-linking of PG teaching programme once a month all over the country, which will benefit PG students," informs Desai.

Real Versus the Virtual

His work is the embodiment of art blending with science. Dr Debraj Shome (29) specialises in the art of myoconjuctival enucleation — using coloured prosthetics for people in need of an artificial eye. "This technique calls for removal or treatment of the damaged eye, by inserting an orbital implant. The custom-made light-weight prosthesis is then fitted out of acrylic to ensure all implant motility can be transmitted to the prosthesis. The oculist colours the prosthetics to resemble the other eye. Blood vessels are also replicated," says Dr Shome, Head of Department of Ophthalmic and Facial Plastic Surgery, Orbit and Ocular Oncology at Aditya Jyot Eye Hospital, Mumbai. "Patients can now get 80 per cent movement of eyes, restricted by earlier techniques," says Dr Shome. "The effect of wearing a custom-made prosthesis is like wearing a custom-made shoe. It moves better as it is shaped for the socket of the person and creates less trauma much like a custom made shoe. The end result is an artificial eye that looks and moves just like the normal eye," explains Dr Shome. What's more, the customised silicon prosthesis he uses, just costs Rs 100, unlike the porous polyethylene implants which costs approximately Rs 16,000 and does not give good mobility. So, what led to the innovation? "We in India need cheaper alternatives. I came up with the idea after reading this technique in a 17th Century medical textbook," he informs.

A Monk who Dares to Win

These are the stunts one usually gets to witness on programmes like the 'Fear Factor' or 'Dare to Win' series on AXN. Young daring minds jumping into some mind boggling adventure and action. But have you ever thought of a CEO of a hospital performing such Herculean tasks, who also happens to be a Buddhist monk.

Well believe it or not, but venerable Shi Ming Yi (45), Chairman and CEO, Ren Ci Hospital and Medicare Centre, Singapore has actually performed such stunts live before glaring television cameras only to raise funds for his Hospital, which caters to the chronically sick patients from the lower strata of society. Costs for treatment are subsidised to around 15 Singapore dollars per day. "When I started the hospital in 1994, people had this mental block that this is a Buddhist hospital and hence will cater only to the Buddhist community. So, they were skeptical about donating money. And I had to raise myself around six to seven million Singapore dollars every year," says Yi.

In the year 2001, a television show had approached the monk to perform a series of daring stunts and simultaneously raise funds for his Hospital. "People would watch the show which would run for two hours. This show would record events for charity purposes. People would call at the show and per call would cost five Singapore dollars. Some would make expensive calls which would be 15 dollars and then at night call charges were 30 dollars," recalls Yi.

Yi walked up a 45 storied high building at an angle of 90 degrees. Then, the second stunt was to immerse himself in 1,000 kilograms of ice for nearly half an hour. "It is all about control of the mind over the body. There were doctors who kept checking my temperature at regular intervals, and in fact after half and hour, the surprising part was that it did not drop down a single degree!" he informs.

The lastest stunt, however, takes the cake. Yi stood on a square plank of about one foot, balancing it on the roof of a high rise building without moving an inch! When asked as to what impelled him to perform such stunts, he immediately retorts, "I love challenges. My mission in life is to serve the poor and raise funds for the hospital," says Yi. And successful, he is!

In this way for the past few years, he has been able to raise funds upto 7 million Singapore dollars! Well, this monk may not have a Ferrari to sell, but certainly a ‘Rolex’ , as he is famously known as the monk who wears a Rolex!