New Delhi: Making a difference in health care

New Delhi (IANS) Read the inspiring story of an oncologist who chose his country over staying abroad in search of financial security to create India's largest chain of world-class cancer hospitals.

The book is titled 'Excellence Has No Borders - How a Doctorpreneur Created a World-Class Cancer Hospital Chain'. The authors are Dr. B.S. Ajaikumar with Hemanth Gorur; (Penguin-Portfolio; Pages: 233; Price: Rs 699).

Dr. B S Ajai Kumar's journey has been an adventure in two worlds: India where he was born, and the US, where he emigrated at the age of 22 but his "happiest moment has been returning to India for good and making a difference in healthcare" by building the HCG (HealthCare Global) chain of world-class oncology care centres, of which there are close to 30 across the country.

The organization's work in health care, particularly in rural India, led to other paths as well. In 1988, Ajaikumar started the International Human Development and Upliftment Academy (IHDUA) to focus on improving the economic condition of women. A house-to-house survey of 15,000 women found they were working an "unbelievable 18 hours a day, living a hand-to-mouth existence and eating only leftovers and that most of those in the reproductive age-group were anemic". "It was clear that we needed to improve their economic condition before they could focus on health," Ajaikumar says. The answer lay in the self-help group (SHG) model and over the last decade this has helped thousands of women across the country to take loans at low interest to develop businesses and increase their per capita income manifold. It's truly a model for the development of Indian villages.

How to get ahead in life?

In the corporate race, all the people who are meeting their goals or even exceeding them are treated by their managers as 'expected' of them. The real question that crops up is: What else? What is it that differentiates me from others? What is my 'X' factor, asks Mukherjee, Principal-Education, Training and Assessment at Infosys, and then proceeds to provide the answers.

It is impossible for a manager, who perhaps has 10-30 people reporting to him, to keep track of what you have been doing, unless you explicitly talk about it. Your manager would also be armed with the inputs that he receives from the people you work with.

"Being busy with our work-life and managing daily challenges do not allow us to focus on this most important skill of communicating. It is primarily due to a lack of self-awareness, our past habits and the predominance of fear and anxiety to change, we need to initiate the changes, take baby steps in changing it. Communication is a learned habit. We need to practice and take corrective measures," the author explains and then guides you through 10 chapters to flesh this out. In short, you need to blow your own trumpet to get ahead in life, says the book.