Baazars and birthdays

It’s Monday morning at the hospital. When we arrive we are met with the usual mob of patients and their families anxiously waiting to see Dr. Subodh. There is a growing crowd at the receptionist counter where the staff is desperately looking for Dr. Subodh only to find he has already entered into a busy day of cleft and burn operations.  Despite lingering sleep deprivation from the camp, the team was energized after successfully launching the first telemedicine pilot in the field. Before we begin compiling our “Comprehensive Telemedicine Plan” that will include an overview of our activities and insights, patient interview data, requirements for technology, steps to implement and measurement telemedicine, staffing, revenue and cost models, etc. we decide to get feedback from those on the other end of the telemedicine Skype call. Dr. Gaurav and Mrs. Poonam Sinha were both involved in the telemedicine prototype and provided us with valuable feedback on their experience with telemedicine. 

We first met with Dr. Gaurav, one of the surgeons, who enjoyed the telemedicine experience because it helps patients save time and money by not having to travel to Varanasi. He also likes the opportunity to provide daily consultations to patients. His main area of concern was video quality. He showed us a video that he took on his cell phone during the Skype calls with patients. The video quality was poor and continued to decline whenever patients moved to show their burned arm or cleft palate. As a result, he was unable to properly diagnose patients using video alone. Another concern was scheduling telemedicine given that he performs 4-5 surgeries per day, which starts and ends with rounds. This was helpful as we began discussing potential ways to schedule telemedicine without disrupting current hospital operations.

The next follow-up interview was with Mrs. Poonam Sinha, the speech therapist that already has experience Skyping with patients for speech therapy sessions. Not surprisingly, her concern was the audio quality. A majority of the time she was able to hear the patient, but there was a lot of background noise. We think this should be improved when there are not 300 patients clamoring for Dr. Subodh in the background. For scheduling purposes, she has the capacity each day to complete additional speech therapy sessions via Skype. Overall, G S Memorial employees love the idea of telemedicine and are willing to put in the time and resources to make it a success!

After a great day at the hospital we decide to keep the momentum going by touring Varanasi at night with a local. The walking tour was called, “Birth, Death, and Rebirth” and our guide led us to many of his political party’s favorite historical sites. As we removed our shoes to enter one of the temples where Buddha had once taught, our tour guide asked if wanted grass to make the walk better. We were sorely disappointed to learn that he wasn’t talking about the type you walk on, and declined.  Thankfully, cows are not permitted in the temples, and trash is removed regularly, so our feet got off lightly, as we wandered through the peaceful and shockingly quiet temples. We also ventured into busy bazaars tucked away between narrow streets lined with old, brick-exposed buildings. We were amazed by the vibrant life that existed in these hidden alleys and have since braved them on our own.

The remainder of the week we continued to work on our telemedicine plan, spoke with more of the hospital staff and of course did some extensive data mining. Two meetings this week were very informative. The first was with the hospital accountant, Mr. Yadv and the second with the social worker, Mr. Pankaj, who was also at the screening camp. The accountant gave us all the necessary information (balance sheets, income statements, etc.) for us to do a deep dive into the hospital’s finances and input some of the information into our financial model for telemedicine. Overall, it’s looking great! Our conversation with Mr. Pankaj (world renowned lead actor from the Oscar winning Smile Pinki) centered on his experience with telemedicine at the screening camp and the hiring and advertising costs associated with marketing such activities. We also asked him how he thought telemedicine might affect his work.

That night was the Dr. Subodh’s birthday bash for his daughter Nimisha’s 20^th birthday! We had previously been to Dr. Subodh’s house for Holi only last week, but the house was completely transformed this time with pink and white balloons lining the grand staircase and walls, rose petals adorning tables, beautiful flowers in vases and staff that served delicious Indian appetizers and virgin cocktails. We saw many employees from the hospital dressed up for the occasion. After mingling we all watched a traditional birthday ceremony, which involved the grandmother and mother blessing Nimisha and ended with lots of confetti showering the guests. As we feasted on appetizers and cake, as American college students are apt to do, we were mortified to learn that there was an entire dinner waiting for us on the roof. We were ushered to the rooftop for a delicious dinner buffet with food from every continent (Antarctica being represented by popsicles) and an elaborate Indian sweets table. The night ended, as all good ones do, with Dr. Subodh and Daniel singing karaoke in Hindi and the rest of us dancing along.

Many exciting things happened this week from the telemedicine prototype to our adventures in Varanasi. Today was no different, as some of the team went for another boat ride on the Ganga River and came back with an unforgettable experience. They say the river is never the same twice.