Nava Thakuria

An ancient Indian saying ‘Swasthya Param Sampad (Health is wealth) emerges as most relevant for the entire human race in the post-corona era. Over eight billion human beings on the planet understood the real face of life & death during the horrible Covid-19 days, where almost everyone was locked inside and counted the number of casualties from here and there. The most powerful, intelligent and articulate community on Earth turned out to be a victim of circumstances, where a small virus showed the homo-sapiens a mirror to understand- it makes sense only when you are alive (Assamese wisdom says-Deha Thakilehe Beha).

Various scientific surveys reveal that over one billion people lack access to healthcare facilities around the world. It needs a multi-dimensional effort empowering different sections in the society and continuous advocacy along with societal collaboration to create a healthier population. International organisations, local governments, healthcare initiators, etc can make a real difference here, when each and every individual can be provided an affordable, accessible and quality healthcare service. Understanding the responsibility on ground, an innovative healthcare model named Affordable Health Mission (AHM) was launched five years back in North-east India by GNRC Hospitals under the leadership of Dr Nomal Chandra Borah.

Providing value-added healthcare facilities to everyone with a reasonable expenditure can create a magical world, where the prevention of epidemics, reduction of the burden from non-communicable diseases and improvement of healthcare management for the women, children and elderly individuals will be easier. When the lack of affordable healthcare pushes millions of Indian families to below the poverty line every year and thus jeopardizes the government’s mission to uplift the economy of poor families, the initiative like AHM can show a light at the end of the tunnel. It may be termed as a dawn of hope for those economically downtrodden families in a populous country like Bharat.

A brief biography of Dr NC Borah, who was born in a marginal farmer’s family of eastern Assam to become one of the best known neurologists across the south Asian nation with unbelievable hard works during his childhood and persuasion of a missionary zeal in professional life, depicts a dream to be realized with an affordable health mission for benefit of millions of rural poor families in the alienated region. The biography, titled ‘Hope dawns in the East’ and co-authored by Mumbai-based communication professionals Arnab Mukherjee and Sushmita Sarkar, guides the readers with a stunning line by Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela saying, ‘It always seems impossible until it is done’ and appreciating words from Mother Teresa and Bill Gates.

Published by Chennai-based Notion Press, the tiny book highlights the promise of ‘Health for all, smiles for all’. It includes many photographs ranging from Dr Borah’s early life to present days along with the portraits of his father Karneswar Borah and mother Kanaklata Borah. His close association with legendary musician Bharat Ratna Dr Bhupen Hazarika and Jnanpith awardee author Dr Indira (Mamoni Raisom) Goswami is also reflected in the selected photographs. Former President Pranab Mukherjee, former State chief ministers Tarun Gogoi and Sarbananda Sonowal and many other luminaries are also seen with Dr Borah along with his adorable family comprising wife Dr Jayshree Borah, two daughters Priyanka & Satabdee and son Madhurjya.

The book comprises a few articles, penned by Dr Borah as CMD of GNRC Hospitals, on various pertinent issues like improving medical education system, dealing with the shortage of specialist doctors, highlighting the patient’s right to have a second medical opinion, troubles created by many doctor’s illegible handwriting in prescriptions, if healthcare is a science of medicines or an art of healing, etc. Dr Borah has passionately argued in his pieces that health is a fundamental human right and it’s critical for human dignity. A healthy population is essential for socio-economic growth as it determines the average life expectancy, number of persons in the productive age bracket, employment, productivity & capacity building, contribution to social welfare, etc.

For records, GNRC (formerly known as Guwahati Neurological Research Centre) group of hospitals was established in 1987 at Dispur and it was the first super specialty healthcare centre in the region to cater the needs of nearly 60 million people. A pass-out from Gauhati Medical College and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (New Delhi), Dr Borah later expanded its network of hospitals with a unit at Sixmile (Guwahati), another at Dispur, one more at Barasat (West Bengal) and a unique one in North Guwahati (named as GNRC Institute of Medical Sciences). Today, all five hospitals comprising a cumulative 750 beds take care of over 2,50,000 out-patients and 25,000 in-patients annually. Besides North-eastern residents, GNRC Hospitals cater to the needs of many patients from neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

The energetic entrepreneur also added the Asian Institute of Nursing Education to his healthcare empire. An unusual concept of pharmacy cum grocery shops (titled GNRC Medishops) was also materialized in Guwahati. With an aim to spread awareness about preventive healthcare and early intervention in the community Dr Borah also launched Swasthya Yatra (March towards health) and a monthly health magazine (GNRC Swasthya) in Assamese language. The visionary professional started GNRC’s community outreach program titled Medireach, under which a mobile hospital unit was developed to travel among the deprived families to raise healthcare awareness including timely and curative care. The mobile vehicle has the arrangements for conducting ECGs, X-Ray, Ultrasonography and other laboratory tests. A qualified and trained medical team accompanies the unit to collect, store and transport blood and urine samples for various tests. By now, Medireach has touched over 15 million people in Assam providing affordable and reliable  diagnostic services to the people.

Later he created a pool of community health workers named   Swasthya Mitra, who relentlessly work for preventive and promotive care  in rural and semi-urban localities. Swasthya Mitras remain the frontline health friends/workers, who understand the  community and serve as a bridge between healthcare professionals  and the people. GNRC has trained over 20,000 community health workers and nearly 6000 Swasthya Mitras are working on the ground. With a rare facility of free medical care to all accident & emergency patients for the first 24 hours, the North Guwahati campus also  provides free bus service for the patients along with their attendants regularly coming from even 400 kilometres away.

GNRC Hospitals also supports the people under Ayushman Bharat (PM Jan Arogya Yojana) and Atal Amrit Abhiyan, sponsored by the Union government in New Delhi and State government in Dispur. GNRC’s affordable health mission supplements the government mission to offer quality healthcare facilities to the citizens at an affordable cost through different initiatives and it has reached 1.7 million people till date. Similarly, its Telehealth helps the patients in distant places to consult with GNRC specialists as and when needed. At GNRC hospitals, the management encourages generic medicines and India-made medical supplies at a cheaper price. Moreover, the use of high-end diagnostics for multiple deserving patients helps reduce  spending  of the patients.

The soft spoken gentleman asserts that a large volume of patients suffer because of preventable diseases and many can avoid hospitalizations if offered timely medical care to them. Most of the patients arrive at hospitals after the diseases become complicated due to delayed care. It’s always essential to keep them healthy rather than treating in hospitals which often become so expensive. Health is a fundamental human right and it’s critical for human dignity and GNRC tries to unite the science of medicine with the art of healing while offering the treatment with trust. A healthy population is essential for socio-economic growth which finally determines average life expectancy, productivity, capacity building, employment, etc for an individual member, stated Dr Borah, adding that good health of each person emerges as a priority for peace, happiness and prosperity of a nation.