People

Pravasi Bhartiya Samman

Founder and Chairman of DM Healthcare and MIMS India, Dr Azad Moopen (56), a physician turned entrepreneur based in UAE, received India's top most honour for overseas Indians — the Pravasi Bhartiya Samman Award. The award conferred by the President of India on 9th January 2010 at a ceremony held at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi recognises Dr Moopen's notable contribution to social and humanitarian causes, his leadership qualities, his passion to reach the underprivileged and his commitment to provide best medical facilities to the people of Gulf Countries and India. The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman is an award by Government of India in conjunction with the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, to honour exceptional and meritorious contribution of overseas Indians in their chosen field/profession. Maximum 15 awardees from all over the world are nominated every year to receive this prestigious award. "I consider this award as a reward for whatever little I have been able to contribute in the area of healthcare and to alleviate the suffering of the needy people. This journey was possible only with the support of the growing fraternity of DM Healthcare and MIMS professionals who have manfully strived to bring experience & expertise to the masses with a human touch," said Dr Moopen, whose journey began in 1982 as a lecturer in General Medicine Department of the Government College in Calicut. In India, he has established the 600-bed MIMS, Kozhikode and the recently started MIMS, Kottakal. "Today our group treats over 2 million patients a year across a cross-section of society in Gulf Countries and India. As part of the Group's Corporate Social Responsibility, we regularly conduct lot of awareness campaigns and extend free medical care to thousands of poor patients in India and GCC," added Dr Moopen.

New CFO for Max

Max Healthcare has recently appointed SL Narayanan (46) as the Chief Financial Officer and Director- Strategic IT. Narayanan brings with him over two decades of rich and varied experiences, having worked with some of India's topmost business conglomerates, such as Bharti Enterprises Ltd, HCL Technologies Ltd. and ITC Ltd. Prior to joining Max Healthcare, Narayanan served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer with Symphony Services Corp, a privately held US company, which is one of the leading players in the outsourced R&D services/software engineering space, with presence in the US/India/China. Before Symphony Services, he was associated with Bharti Enterprises Limited as Corporate Director (Finance), responsible for the Group's forex risk management, borrowings, treasury operations, investor relations and all strategic financial matters concerning Bharti's investments in telecom and retail. In his previous stint as the Corporate Vice President - Finance, Narayanan was a key member of the leadership team at HCL Technologies that executed a transformational change, adding several new businesses through a combination of JVs, alliances, captive takeovers, to significantly strengthen market positioning. Narayanan was also held executive positions at BPL Telecom Business Group, including one as the Chief Financial Officer of BPL Cellular Ltd, a JV with AT&T Wireless. He began his career with ITC Limited and during a period of over 12 years, he grew from a management trainee to the Head of Corporate Planning. Narayanan is a BCom from University of Madras (college topper) and a national rank holder chartered accountant.

North East Excellence Award

Despite storms of militancy that ravages the state of Manipur, Dr Kh Palin (53), Chairman & Managing Director, Shija Hospitals & Research Institute, Imphal has always focused on developing medical infrastructure in Manipur. His contribution was recently recognised by Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) by conferring him with 'North East Excellence Awards' The award was given at the inaugural Session of the 5th North East Business Summit on 8th January in Kolkata in the presence of an august gathering including Minister for DoNER Bijoy Krishna Handique and Chief Ministers of NE States. ICC has instituted the 'North East Excellence Awards' for recognising the contributions of the organisations and individuals working towards economic and social development of North East of India and who have achieved excellence in their respective fields. Born on September, 1956 at Imphal, Dr Palin did MBBS from RIMS, Imphal, MS (Gen Surgery) from PGI, Chandigarh and MCh (Plastic Surgery from PGI, Chandigarh). He has many firsts to his credits. He has performed free flap surgery for sole defect successfully in December, 1995 and re- implantation of amputated thumb in 2000 for the first time in North East India. He brought the art of laparoscopic surgery for the first time in Manipur in April, 1996. He is credited for the historic installation of Harmonic Scalpel (USA)— an instrument for bloodless surgery, for the first time in India at Shija Hospitals, Imphal in 1997. He is also credited for the installation of Infra Red Coagulator, the latest and most scientific non-operative treatment of piles in 1997 for the first time in Eastern India. He brought facilities of video endoscopy upper and lower GI, ERCP, Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery, Arthroscopy, PCNL, URS, CLT for the first time in Manipur and ICU and neurosurgery in private sector in Manipur. His ultimate dream is to start a health city in Imphal!

In Focus

Former CEO and MD of Manipal Health Systems, R Basil (51), has joined Apollo Hospitals Group as their Executive Vice President. He would be based at the corporate headquarters in Chennai. “I am really inspired to be part of the largest healthcare group in this continent. It is going to be a challenging and exciting experience for me to lead the next level of transformation in this organisation, which has already made its unique mark in the healthcare services space through their passion, dedication and commitment,” quips Basil. He had joined Manipal Health Systems in April 2002 as the CEO of Manipal Hospitals, Bangaluru. Later, he was made Director and CEO of Manipal Health Systems and then MD and a member of the MEMG board. His leadership was credited with changing the face of Manipal Group's hospital business with new formats; expanding it to 11 hospitals across South India and making the revenues grow by eight times in eight years. Basil did his BE in electrical engineering from Trivandrum College of Engineering and MTech from Cochin University. At the age of 21, he started working at Crompton Greaves as an engineer trainee. Later, he joined Wipro-GE Medical Division as branch manager of Kochi and climbed ladder to become a regional manager to zonal manager to general manager to Vice-President.

Padma Bhushan for Dr Panda

Cardiovascular thoracic surgeon and Vice Chairman at Asian Heart Institute, Mumbai, Dr Ramakant Panda (54) was recently awarded the Padma Bhushan, the nation's third highest civilian honour. A year ago, Mumbai-based Panda led a team of doctors to successfully conduct a r e-do heart surgery on Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. Panda, originally from the Jajpur district of Orissa, has performed more than 10,000 bypass surgeries. After doing his MBBS from SCB Medical College, Cuttack, MCh in cardio thoracic surgery from AIIMS, he went to Cleveland Clinic for fellowship in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery, working under the pioneer of by-pass surgery Dr Floyd D Loop. He worked as a Senior Registrar, heart transplant and cardiac surgery, at Harefield Hospital, London and then in Cleveland Clinic. He came to India and started working in Mumbai's Jaslok Hospital and then in Lilavati Hospital, Breach Candy Hospital, Nanavati and Cumballa Hill Hospital. Panda is recognised as being among the first surgeons in the country to introduce the concept of 'total arterial revascularisation' as well as one of the pioneers of off-pump bypass surgery. He has one of the safest records in the world with a mortality of less than 0.5 per cent in isolated coronary bypass surgeries for last five years. He performs more than 99 per cent bypass surgeries by beating heart technique and most bypass surgeries using arterial conduits only.

Padma Vibhushan for Dr Reddy

Chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group and the Father of Corporate Healthcare, Dr Prathap C Reddy (76), was recently conferred with Padma Vibhushan. He is also the recipient of Padma Bhushan award in 1991, Asia-Pacific BioBusiness Leadership Award 2005 and Sir Neel Ratan Sarkar award for medical excellence in 1998. Born in 1933 at Aragonda village of Tamil Nadu, he received his pre-medical degree from the Madras Christian College and his medical degree from Stanley Medical College, Chennai. He worked as a Resident at Worcenter City Hospital in the US and Missouri State Chest Hospital, US. Dr Reddy started India's first corporate hospital- Apollo Hospital, Chennai in 1983. Today, the group has a network of over 8,000 beds across 47 hospitals, almost 1,000 pharmacies, diagnostic clinics, medical business process outsourcing services, health insurance services, and clinical research divisions with a focus on epidemiological studies, stem cell and genetic research. He has has been instrumental in bringing several regulatory changes related to licensing, ceasing of import restrictions and permission for organ transplants. He is instrumental in changing the 180 per cent duty on imported equipment and also giving Rs 10,000 tax exemption to people for buying health policies. "I am humbled and grateful to be conferred with the prestigious Padma Vibhushan and would like to thank the Government for recognising me for this honour,” he stated, adding, “Apollo Hospitals has been blessed with the trust of over 18 million patients and also by the Government of India with a commemorative postage stamp in recognition of the group's contribution to healthcare. We have now planned an investment of Rs 1,800 crore over the next 24 months and expect to have bed strength of around 13,500 beds across 70 operational hospitals in India and overseas markets."