Hot Seat

In Pursuit of Happiness

The same corridors in which he loitered as a student, has put him in the hotseat to lead one of the largest hospitals in Chennai. Nancy Singh tells you why Dr J Damodharan, Medical Director, SRMC, Chennai is not just another senior administrator

A teacher by passion and an administrator by choice. That's Dr J Damodharan for you in a nut-shell. While he handles his passion quite fervently, he is still quite "learning the ropes of being a good administrator", as he puts it.

There is an air of contentment that surrounds him. He lacks the kind of aggression or the ambition that you possibly encounter with most of the hospital administrators you would come across today. Neither would you hear him talking at length about what makes Sri Ramachandra Medical Mission (SRMC), Chennai so successful and neither would he credit himself for doing anything. Not that he is 'trying' to be modest. It's just the way he feels. Completely at peace with himself and the world around him.

His first asks, "Why would you want to write about me?" completely oblivious of the fact that he is one of the leading force behind SRMC. "Well, obviously we would like to pick up some leadership lessons," I reply. "Oh. There is no such great thing that I am doing. I am just doing my job. You should write about the institute," he says very poker-faced. The moment you are about to end up being a little bedazzled, enthusiasm suddenly fills the air when, he reacts, "I actually love teaching. You should be writing about it."

That is the moment worth capturing when the eyes staring from behind his glasses light up. "The youth are infectious. They are full of fresh ideas and brimming with enthusiasm and positivity, that it makes me fall in love with the entire ethos," he responds.

The Early Years

Unlike most medical graduates, who dream of being a speciality surgeon, Dr Damodharan was always sure that after he completes his medicine degree, he will join the teaching profession. "The content may vary, but teaching is the fundamental principle of life. I have always looked up to teaching as it is more rewarding. The kind of respect that you get in this profession is unmatchable with any other." Well, you rather believe him, as he is currently aware of the dynamics of both the jobs. He completed his medical education from Madras Medical College, Madras University in 1985. He then started practicing medicine in his own clinic for 10 years. After almost 10 years, he decided to do MD and completed his degree from SRMC in the year 1998. Much to his delight and capabilities, he bagged the gold medal for outstanding performance in his degree.

Just after that, he single-mindedly pursued his ambition of being a teacher and joined as an Assistant Professor of Medicine and consulting physician at SRMC from 1998 to 2004. After which he became Medical Registrar. "As a medical registrar, I was in-charge of planning undergraduate and post-graduate programme every month amongst various other responsibilities." Within the same organisation, he got promoted as an Assistant Professor of Medicine. He practiced as a full-time professor until he got the additional responsibility of administration.

The Spiritual Streak in Him

Dr Damodharan with his wife and daughter Be it the choice of his profession or the manner in which he tackles everyday issues, there is a very evident streak of spirituality and philosophy working in his conscious mind which clearly reflects in his personality and mannerisms too. After pointing out this to him, he smiles and agrees over the fact that he is deeply into philosophy books, and that too right since he was in his late 20s. "The reason I chose teaching was because I did not want to run behind money. It never was a prime priority for me. I always yearned to do something that was more substantial and satisfying which pierced through the layers of materialism," he reflects. But, at such a young age when every doctor is busy planning his/ her career and being super enthusiastic and ambitious about the days to come, what made him to take this slow or rather 'different' approach? "I was brought up in a family which was financially well-to-do. In my formative years, my uncle Dr Krishnamoorti Srinivas, who is currently the Vice-Chancellor of a University in Chennai, used to hold long talks with me. These talks surrounded issues like purpose of life and how money should not be the focus but the things that make you happy, and things like that. I never really took it very seriously, but somewhere down the line, it got deeply in-grained in my subconscious mind as I used to really admire my uncle's straightforwardness and his intellectual capabilities." So what spiritual lessons has he tried to imply in his management life? To start with, he makes a conscious effort to greet everyone with a smile and being as self-less as possible. "I always have to try hard to shed my ego. You do not have to worry about the results. You have to sincerely follow your own duties. Also, you do not have to be always be in the spotlight, as it is always the team that works in sync. You need to project them also and then be happy about it," he says.

Juggling Roles

While Dr Damodharan was quite happy teaching the students, it is actually the administration that spotted him and found him worthy enough to be handling administration as well. "I did not want to go into administration in the first place. Things happened in such a manner that I became one. I was actually quite an active member of the mortuary committee and used to discuss passionately about improving quality of healthcare and reducing medical errors. Obviously, since I made the maximum noise, I got spotted by the administration and the next thing I knew was that they want me to handle administration," he shares. But in spite of the initial reluctance, he took on his new role of Deputy Medical Director very seriously and just after one year, he got promoted to the position of Medical Director, which he is handling successfully since 2006.

He has agreed to handle all the additional responsibility on his shoulders, on the condition that he we will be given freedom to teach. So, now he manages both the jobs in such a way that he goes and attends classes in the morning and schedules all meeting in the afternoon for operational purposes. So much for the love of education, that recently when the management offered him the position of a full-time CEO, he turned it down, simply because he would have to stop teaching.

Life as an Administrator

Teaching has always been a passion for Dr Damodharan

While there are many ups of being a leader in such a huge organisation, there are certain downs which upset him quite a lot. "Life in the hotseat is like a pendulum. There are moments of extremes. At one time you will be overwhelmed with complete sense of joy and achievement, on the other side, you will face days of frustration. Compared to this, if you take out the finance part, teaching can be a very rewarding and balanced profession."

Lessons of Excellence

He doesn't hold a full-time management degree in hospital administration and does not feel that it is necessary to have one. Over the years, he has learnt it all through experience and the guru feels like a 'shishya' in administration, yet to master the tricks of the trade.

Experience is indeed the best teacher, as they say. "With my cumulative experience, I can say that to become a good administrator the first thing that is a must-have is to be sensitive to people's needs. Lot of these MBA turned-outs are so engrossed in the financial nitty-gritty, that they forget the humane aspect of it. You need to put yourself into the shoes of the other person. It is only then, you start developing a good understanding," feels he.

The most important

factor which he has always been focused on is patient safety. If you take a round of the hospital, you will indeed realise how seriously he has been instrumental in improving the safety standards. The hospital has already received JCI accreditation. "Patient safety is the key. To give an example, just observe, the basins of the hospital—they all are provided with alcoholic-rub solutions and not normal liquid soaps. Moreover, to save costs, we could have had towels to soak or dry, but instead have provided tissues, as it is very instrumental in bringing down the HAI. It may sound very simple to you, but in such a huge organisation, it requires huge amount of manpower and money. But, we as a team had to convince the management that it needs to be done," says he firmly.

Though the hospital received JCI, it took four years for them to achieve this, which is longer than usual. "Maximum time went in bringing about a cultural change. Then, streamlining the entire team, their responsibilities and going through the recommendations is very time-consuming. But last year we fast tracked by appointing a CEO who had a team construed only for JCI," clarifies Dr Damodharan.

Second lesson of management—Listen. "I am tough, but, I listen to them. Now, over the years, I have made a conscious effort to develop my listening capabilities. Mostly, as a teacher, you do a lot of talking, but here it's the reverse. And this lesson cannot be taught in any of the books. You have to cultivate it yourself. It is a purely human trait. You should try and not be judgmental. Always think that there is another side to a story. I was earlier quite impulsive as a youngster, but now, I don't react very soon," says he.

One practice as a leader, which he introduced in the organisation, was integrating all the departments and giving them a platform to talk. "Every department, irrespective of whether it is clinical or non-clinical department, need to sit down together. Earlier there was no common grounds on which they could interact and clear their doubts. It also meant that they get a clear and focused picture about the roles they need to perform."
So, earlier, it was like the ward boy refusing to do a job saying that it is the nurse who is supposed to do it and on the other hand it would be the nurse blaming the ward-boy to do it. Every month he makes it a point to meet with all the departments. So, for instance, he will call up a meeting of the housekeeping, the floor manager and the nursing heads. "Behind every problem there is another problem sitting. Each one of us is a human being. So when everyone sits down together, with me as a modulator, they have a faith that their issue will be solved. I, also get a picture about the problems my staff is facing. Earlier, these people were not able to communicate so freely because of restrictions. If you start meeting people, you will realise that there is a common thread to their problems.

The team approach, according to him, has worked wonders to bring about a cultural change in the medical centre. "While in the first meetings, these people were at loggerheads with each other, subsequently they slowly started agreeing to disagree, but allowing the other person to make a point. Then gradually they learnt to tolerate each other and now they are like ok with each other," he laughs. But, coming back to the same point of fallbacks of being in administration, he says that it is a very thankless job where people have very short-memories and there are very few moments of gratitude. "You have to be have least of the expectations, if you wish to survive in this type of world," he introspects.

Law, Ethics and Humanity

While growing up as a kid, Dr Damodharan either wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer. Law is his next passion. And today, he is following his dreams by studying medical law and ethics, from the prestigious National Law School, Bangaluru. "There are a rising number of consumer cases and medico-legal notices. My law experience has been very fruitful, personally and professionally. It has helped me to expand my thinking. The bigger picture is that everything in our lives is run by laws and ethics, which we either choose for our own, or they are thrust upon us. it has opened my eyes into a lot of issues." So much so, for his newly-found passion that he shall be writing thesis on medical ethics—on whether the Government should allow dissolution of medical error being not impeachable offense. "In the US, a hospital can disclose its medical error statistics without fearing anything. It is not an offence. But here, if a doctor admits that there is an error, he straightaway goes to the jail. Now that needs to change if we need to improve the state of HAI in our country."

Not only this, he has also registered himself for another course on Human Rights and Law! "Humanity for some or the other reason, has taken a backseat. Every professional should take up these subjects to get a wholesome perspective of the world that they live in." No wonder, he is a teacher, and a good one at that. As for the future plans for SRMC, it is planning a liver-transplant unit and a state-of-the-art oncology unit. His team is also gearing up to go for NABH accreditation.

As for being a CEO, he is re-thinking the proposition and says, "Who knows maybe if I am convinced, I will re-consider taking it full-time." For sure, his students may miss him, but the management would love to have such a knowledgeable leader in their organisation who can indeed be a guiding force to the staff too. As of now, we will have to wait and watch, about the next big step in his life. Till then, he is happy enjoying life by making the best of both the worlds.

nancy.singh@expressindia.com