Dr. Anant Pandhare is the Medical Director of Dr. Hedgewar Hospital, Aurangabad. He has been working in this hospital ever since his career began. He aims to give back to society and ensure that people get good treatment without spending more money.
An odyssey to distinction, Dr. Hedgewar Hospital is inspired by Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar’s spirit and commitment to the nation. It is a flagship initiative of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Vaidyakiya Pratishthan, a charitable trust whose vision is to provide excellent, transparent, ever-growing, and compassionate health services to the common man.
What started in 1989 as a 10-bed hospital run by a group of self-committed doctors, today, has taken the shape of Dr. Hedgewar Hospital, a 300-bed tertiary care multi-disciplinary hospital located in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, that has treated over seven million people. The hospital strives to make high-quality medical services accessible to all at an affordable cost.
The hospital is devoted and self-directed toward state-of-the-art medical practices in the public interest with dedicated medical professionals, world-class infrastructure, and the latest technology, tools, and methodologies. The prime beneficiary of Dr. Hedgewar Hospital has always been the marginalized people for whom healthcare expenses are a real burden.
Keeping humanity and kindness at its core, Dr. Hedgewar Hospital’s service towards the people has gained massive social respect and an astounding response from the rural and urban poor over the last 31 years. The data shows that 41 percent of its beneficiaries are people whose annual income is below one lakh rupees. It believes that even they deserve the highest standard of healthcare and thus provides treatment to everyone from all the nearby 10 districts.
It has strengthened the hospital’s beliefs and efforts in what it is doing even more. And with an air of sacrifice in its atmosphere, doctors at Dr. Hedgewar Hospital have been able to provide specialized care to poor patients further and expand its activities qualitatively and quantitatively.
In his conversation with Icy Tales, Dr. Anant Pandhare spoke about his journey with the Hedgewar Hospital. BAVP and his opinion on Chronic Illnesses and Organ Donation.
Q) Tell us something about your journey with Dr. Hedgewar Hospital.
Dr. Anant Pandhare: I started my career with the Hedgewar Hospital, and I’m sure my career will end with this organization. Most of my colleagues also have the same lifetime commitment to this organization as they are working relentlessly. The basic idea of Dr. Hedgewar Hospital is to give the maximum to society and to accept the minimum from society despite being doctors.
We all are super specialists, and we are working to create a model of services wherein a doctor can settle a patient and accept the minimum possible remuneration while working on what is required of him. We want to reach out to the maximum number of patients, and I’m very proud to say that we have 80 doctors who work on a subsistence salary and live a modest middle-class life, but they are experts in their fields.
Because of that, this group has created a wonderful, low-cost, high-quality, affordable healthcare solution, which happens in Dr. Hedgewar Hospital. I would say that we have treated more than 7.5 million patients today. It’s one of the best hospitals in the country today; a cheap, ethical, and a very honest hospital.
We have done a lot of new things in this hospital. We are also working on social development in Slum Areas. So community health projects are also going on currently. So I’m part of a very good team of doctors working full-time in this organization.
Q) Tell us something about Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Vaidyakiya Pratishthan (BAVP)
Dr. Anant Pandhare: The BAVP is the parent trust of the hospital, and Hedgewar Hospital is the flagship activity of the BAVP. Speaking of our second hospital in Nashik, a bunch of good doctors and specialties have been doing exemplary work by providing high-quality and affordable treatment for the people of Nashik.
We have a world-class blood bank in Aurangabad, one of the best in Asia. We are also setting up a big project with the help of ONGC in Assam. In this project, a 300-bed hospital is coming up and which will be inaugurated in January, most probably at the hands of the Honorable Prime Minister.
So the BAVP is a social change organization. We started a hospital, a bank, a skill development project for Rural Girls, and an Adolescent Health project for a thousand adolescent girls in slums and rural areas. We also have literacy classes for illiterate slum women, catering courses, and sports.
BAVP is spreading its wings in various projects and sectors. Very soon, we will enter into medical education as well. We are already running a nursing college, but in 2024 we will start a big medical college in Aurangabad. So all these projects are done with the will to do something good for society.
Q) What is your opinion about chronic illnesses because of our lifestyle choices today?
Dr. Anant Pandhare: It’s a very relevant question because of our current lifestyle, everybody’s running all day, and there is stress everywhere. People continuously move around in traffic, in an office, or somewhere. So because of that, there is an increasing incidence of hypertension and diabetes.
So because of the increase in the incidence of these two diseases, there is an increasing incidence of kidney diseases. Chronic kidney diseases are rising, making kidney transplants and auto-dialysis necessary. That’s why you must have seen charitable organizations working on dialysis units everywhere because the number is growing.
And this is not just related to only affluent or upper-middle-class people; it is also prevalent more in the lower-income group and other regions. The only solution to this is to have a stress-free life, doing some basic exercise on a routine basis and managing your diet well. So these are the three mantras that prevent you from falling prey to the kidney transplant kind of thing.
Q) What do you want to say about organ donation, and how would you like to raise awareness on that?
Dr. Anant Pandhare: Our human body is very designed; it’s uniquely manufactured. Nobody can even imagine that there are many organs in the body. The fascinating part is blood because when we make blood donations, the blood gets replenished.
As far as organ donation is concerned, we have kidneys and liver, among others which are the ideal organs to be donated. Everyone should know that if a person decides to donate his organs after his death, he is saving a patient’s life, thus going on a very noble path. It is more like you can live even after death.
First and foremost, awareness needs to be made among medical practitioners. Medical practitioners should constantly speak to their patients and relatives about organ donation. There should be leaflets, brochures, and displays done in every clinic so that every patient coming to them realizes that this is a way of serving society.
Community awareness is also required. You will find that there are Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs, and many other religious groups that come together for various reasons. If a patient dies suddenly because of an accident, and if a doctor can convince their relatives that the patient is dead, but if they donate the organs, three or four lives can be saved. If an awareness campaign can be done in that arena, a lot of awareness can be raised.
I want to put an example in my hospital. One of the male nurses had suffered from some disease, and within six months, he realized he would not survive. So before returning, he convinced his parents and told us we would donate his organs.
He died in our hospital, and we got his kidney, liver, and two corneas that were donated and immediately transferred to Mumbai, Aurangabad, and other patients. We could save five lives, which is great because one man has made such a big difference.
The government must also pass on some incentives and contribute to this process. If a patient or a person agrees to donate his organs posthumously, some benefits can be given to his family. A variety of people can spread awareness in various sectors of society, organ donation can take good speed literally, and many lives can be saved. I’m confident it will pick up because we’ve seen a lot of patients moving around with donated organs, and they are living normal lives.
Dr. Anant Pandhare aims to spread the wings of Dr. Hedgewar Hospital through the BAVP and make quality health care accessible for all. He wants to dedicate his life to serving the public and making this world happier.
Check out the whole conversation with Dr. Anant Pandhare on our YouTube Channel.
