Srinagar, Aug 26 (KNO): Renowned pulmonologist and respiratory medicine specialist Professor Digambar Behera on Wednesday called for an equitable distribution of quaternary healthcare facilities across rural and urban areas.
Addressing the Quaternary Healthcare Leadership Summit at SKICC here, Behera, according to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said, “Advanced medical services remain largely concentrated in cities while rural and less-developed regions continue to be deprived of such facilities.”
He said India’s healthcare sector was undergoing a major transformation, but greater attention was needed towards advanced care, health research and equitable access to specialised medical facilities. “I am glad and privileged to be part of this Quaternary Healthcare Leadership Summit under the aegis of NITI Aayog, under the auspices of the J&K Science Congress,” Behera said.
He said the National Academy of Medical Sciences would serve as a knowledge partner for the initiative. “I am very happy that National Academy of Medical Sciences will be privileged to become a knowledge partner of this endeavour,” he said.
Behera said that despite significant strides in medical research, India continues to spend only a small proportion of its GDP on health research. “Although we have made a lot of strides in the field of medical research, still we spend very little of our overall GDP on health research. It is about just 0.04 per cent of the entire GDP, which is much, much less,” he said.
He said the Department of Health Research had recently issued guidelines and a future roadmap for health research policy, adding that the summit provided an opportunity to place research among the major thrust areas of healthcare.
“I think this is the right time when the northern region is having this summit where they have given an emphasis about the research as one of the thrusts,” Behera said.
Explaining the significance of quaternary healthcare, he said it was an advanced extension of tertiary care involving ultra-specialised medical services, highly complex procedures, cutting-edge technologies and multidisciplinary expertise. “Quaternary healthcare refers to an advanced extension of the tertiary care that involves the ultra-specialised medical services, highly complex procedures, cutting-edge technologies and multidisciplinary expertise,” he said.
Behera said such care was typically provided at selected referral centres, academic medical institutions and super-speciality centres for patients whose conditions were rare, complex or resistant to standard treatments and could not be adequately managed at lower levels of care.
He said quaternary healthcare included organ and multi-organ transplantation, advanced cancer therapies, complex neurosurgical and cardiac interventions, precision and genomic medicine, experimental treatments and clinical trials.
He said the growing burden of complex and chronic diseases was increasing the need for advanced care. “Non-communicable diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disorders, neurological illnesses, and autoimmune conditions are growing rapidly, often requiring advanced diagnosis, long-term management, and highly specialised interventions,” he said.
Behera said increasing life expectancy was also contributing to a rise in morbidity and consequently driving demand for sophisticated quaternary care.
He said technological advances such as robotic surgery, artificial intelligence-driven diagnostics, advanced molecular imaging, modern radiation techniques and gene-based therapies had further increased the relevance of quaternary healthcare.
Professor Behera said it was neither practical nor necessary for every hospital or every state to provide quaternary care, stressing the need to strengthen selected centres with advanced facilities.
“I think although every hospital, everywhere, every state, it is not possible to provide quaternary care, I think it is important certain centres, which are already many in this country, are required to have advanced these quaternary facilities, so that our patients can get benefits,” he said.
He also flagged the concentration of such facilities in urban areas and said rural and less-developed regions often remain deprived of advanced healthcare.
“Unfortunately, what is happening, our health policy is such that, whether it is in the private sector or in the public sector, most of these facilities are centred around the urban areas,” Behera said.
“Therefore, most of our underdeveloped, so-called underdeveloped areas, or the rural areas, they are devoid of these facilities. I think we have to change our policies,” he added.
Calling equitable distribution the key priority, Behera said people should have access to advanced healthcare irrespective of whether they live in rural or urban areas.
“I’m sure Dr Srinivasan is going to look after that, to see that there is an equitable distribution everywhere, that everybody, whether he’s in the rural area, whether he’s in the urban area, gets this benefit,” he said.
Behera said India’s progress in healthcare, combined with greater cooperation among stakeholders, could make wider access to advanced facilities possible.
“With the type of advance in the field of health care that the country is achieving, and in future, all of us, if we are coming together, then such facilities, such improvements will be possible in the country,” he said. “But what I’ll try to emphasise is that it should be an equitable distribution, that is more important,” he added.
He also called for a change in the traditional approach to healthcare planning and administration, saying policymakers and administrators must be willing to think beyond conventional methods.
“The second important issue we must understand, then our approach and our doing things should also change, that also needs some changes, we have to think out of the box, if we go the traditional ways,” Behera said.
He urged administrators to identify and overcome procedural and institutional difficulties that could hinder the expansion of advanced healthcare.
“So many times we see many of our procedures that is being done here, that has also to be overcome. I’m sure the administrators, the Chief Secretary is here, the Secretary is here, and of course the retired is there, so you have to think out of the box and overcome these difficulties, so that we can provide these facilities to everybody,” he said.
Professor Behera also reiterated the National Academy of Medical Sciences’ commitment to the initiative. “On behalf of the National Academy of Medical Sciences, which many of you are fellows and guides for the academy, we’ll be a knowledge partner to this endeavour,” he said—(KNO)