Despite being on the verge of becoming a global superpower, India’s healthcare facilities, especially when it comes to women and children, are largely staggering. Since women continue to be perceived as inferior to men, many of them choose not to disclose their healthcare issues in front of anyone.
However, a growing number of women leading the country’s hospital groups serves as a beacon for hope. One such example can be seen in Niira Radia, who leads one of the most prominent medical care groups in North India, Nayati Healthcare.
Started as a mobile medical unit in Badrinath Dham, Nayati Healthcare is now one of India’s fastest growing hospital chains, with established super speciality units in Mathura, Agra, New Delhi, Gurugram and Varanasi.
The group’s flagship hospital, Nayati Medicity, Mathura, Nayati has taken the onus for facilitating quality healthcare for women and children through a number of initiatives. The hospital’s founder, chairperson and promoter, Niira Radia believes that a healthy society can be imagined only with the presence of healthy women.
In an interview, Niira Radia pointed out that women’s health is one of the most neglected issues in the tier II and tier III regions of the country. She also said that at Nayati, the focus is not just curative, but preventive healthcare as an integral part of our women’s health initiatives which the group has undertaken by introducing Well Women Club.
Across communities at the grassroots level, Niira Radia’s Nayati Healthcare has been conducting several awareness and educational programs to reach out to women and educate them about the need to make healthcare a priority for themselves and for their families.
Nayati Healthcare’s activities include working with local panchayats, women groups, schools and colleges through outreach programs which are dedicated to improving maternal health outcome and enhancing quality of life in the most remote locations across Western Uttar Pradesh, Eastern Rajasthan and Uttarakhand.
Just like Niira Radia in North India, Dr Minnie Bodhanwala is serving a similar cause in Western India. CEO at Wadia Hospitals, Mumbai, Dr Bodhanwala is quite well-known for regularly organising medical camps and education programmes in rural areas especially for the underprivileged women and children.
“Our Maternity Hospital specializes in offering affordable Obstetrics and Gynaecology services to women across all sections of the society; the hospital also specializes in providing IVF care at a much-subsidized cost and has a human milk bank to help the children who are not fortunate enough to get it. The maternity hospital would undergo a major transformation soon starting with structural stability being a nine-decade old structure,” Dr Minnie explained during an interview.
With women like Niira Radia and Dr Minnie Bodhanwala at the helm of their respective medical care groups, the coming years can see a better and more accessible range of healthcare services for women, along with the creation of a society that is more sensitized towards the healthcare needs of women and children.
