Kolkata Nights Enter Kolkata
We finally made it to Kolkata around 5 am today. The first obstacle begun.It seems like we cannot fit 2 of March's and Sriram's luggages into the taxi's trunk. We ended up with using a old red towel to tie up the trunk.
Jet lagged and sleep deprived we grabbed a breakfast from the exquisite Tolly Country Club where we will be calling our base camp for the next two and half weeks. With no hesitation from our group we joined Dr. Acharya to partake in a tour of the Medica, a private hospital in Kolkata. The tour and meeting with some of the faculty provided us with insight to the private health care system along with details concerning the government health care system.
In the context of our mHealth project focus, we met several doctors who were more than excited to talk about recent relevant developments and their experiences from the field. Dr. Ehsaan introduced us to the recent work of Fortis Delhi, who have implemented a telemedicine practice in which first-year medical interns provide personal care to patients under the remote supervision of an experienced doctor. While this may or may not have immediate implications for our mHealth work, the fact that the concept has been validated is good support for us should we require a similar model. Dr. Bannerjee shared with us several stories about his work in rural India: how rural medical practitioners in some villages are extremely respected by their patients, and in some areas met with extreme skepticism. Dr. Sata, whom we had lunch with, further elaborated on the difficulty of leveraging such a diverse stakeholder group:
- Who do they reach, and how much are they trusted?
- Who do they trust, and send their patients to should the need for referral arise?
- Why should they trust us when we could encroach on their customer base?
- How do we set up a sustainable value chain for the buyers and providers in this large but disjointed ecosystem?
As we continue our travels and explorations of the Indian healthcare system, hopefully we'll be able to start answering these questions and inch towards a real healthcare solution for the people of India who most need it.
Team Kolkata
We finally made it to Kolkata around 5 am today. The first obstacle begun.It seems like we cannot fit 2 of March's and Sriram's luggages into the taxi's trunk. We ended up with using a old red towel to tie up the trunk.
Jet lagged and sleep deprived we grabbed a breakfast from the exquisite Tolly Country Club where we will be calling our base camp for the next two and half weeks. With no hesitation from our group we joined Dr. Acharya to partake in a tour of the Medica, a private hospital in Kolkata. The tour and meeting with some of the faculty provided us with insight to the private health care system along with details concerning the government health care system.In the context of our mHealth project focus, we met several doctors who were more than excited to talk about recent relevant developments and their experiences from the field. Dr. Ehsaan introduced us to the recent work of Fortis Delhi, who have implemented a telemedicine practice in which first-year medical interns provide personal care to patients under the remote supervision of an experienced doctor. While this may or may not have immediate implications for our mHealth work, the fact that the concept has been validated is good support for us should we require a similar model. Dr. Bannerjee shared with us several stories about his work in rural India: how rural medical practitioners in some villages are extremely respected by their patients, and in some areas met with extreme skepticism. Dr. Sata, whom we had lunch with, further elaborated on the difficulty of leveraging such a diverse stakeholder group:
- Who do they reach, and how much are they trusted?
- Who do they trust, and send their patients to should the need for referral arise?
- Why should they trust us when we could encroach on their customer base?
- How do we set up a sustainable value chain for the buyers and providers in this large but disjointed ecosystem?
As we continue our travels and explorations of the Indian healthcare system, hopefully we'll be able to start answering these questions and inch towards a real healthcare solution for the people of India who most need it.
Team Kolkata
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