Deeksha Gupta

 With a population of over 200 million people, Nigeria is the most populated country in Africa and the seventh in the world. With this kind of population, Nigeria would be considered a land of opportunities, including for consumption of services and products and availability of human capital. Many investors would thus give it a top consideration. That is coupled with the reputation that Nigerians are known for wanting finer things in life and living in the fast lane, especially out of their own country.   According to Jayesh Saini, there is no doubt there is great potential in the country, especially in the healthcare industry where he has vested interests in healthcare service delivery. The industry, he points out is not as developed as would be expected of such a vast land and human capital. It is unbelievable with all resources the country is endowed with, their still have not managed to meet the 15% of the national budget for healthcare and the total health facilities ...

  DR SWARUP MISHRA He is the Chairman and Founder of Mediheal Group of Hospital s. He travelled from Odisha (formerly Orissa) in eastern India to Kenya, East Africa and in 1997 alongside his wife who is also a medical practitioner they settled in a town called Eldoret. His medical career in Kenya started by him being employed as lecturer in one of the local universities. In 2005 he decided to venture in private practice and acquired what is now referred to as Mediheal Group of Hospitals with hospitals/clinics in the towns of Eldoret , Nakuru and Nairobi. Among the services they provide include: laboratory, ART, ENT, physiotherapy, dental, Ophthalmology, Obstetrics & Gynecology and orthopedics. Dr Mishra is now settled in Kenya and is even a politician. DR UMESH CHANDRA SAINI The camera shy and highly private Dr Saini is the Chairman and Founder of The Nairobi West Hospital. A Kenyan Indian by naturalization, he was born in Kaimganj, Uttar Pradesh, India. He went to Kenya ...

  Fraud is one of the most retrogressive happenings in any sphere of life. Fraud affects all people directly or indirectly. The adverse effect of this in the healthcare industry cannot be over-emphasized. The main participants in fraud cases in healthcare include patients, healthcare service providers, suppliers of goods and services to the sector and brokers. In a nutshell “Fraud in Healthcare Kills”.   According to Jayesh Saini, healthcare fraud and corrupt practices ultimately affects the quality and quantity of services delivered, resources utilization, cost of services, time and human resources. In his opinion, this is one of the factors that have played a role in keeping cost of business to remain high and thus the high charges for service. Interestingly, from where he sits, as a consumer of services and an investor in healthcare, every one of the above participants in the sector blames all the others except themselves, making it sometimes difficult to solve the prob...

  World over, most healthcare systems focus treatment of diseases with little input in prevention and other pillars towards comprehensive health management. This has caused increase in deaths and health care costs continue increasing in ways that are an unsustainable rate. Without mitigation factors in place, this will lead to compromised quality through too little too late.   The culture of medical intervention (help because it has happened) must change as a priority to interception (stop before it happens) if this trend is to be reversed. The cost of preventive healthcare is far much lower than of intercepting when disease happens.   The question begs then, why there is such high mortality rates due to potentially preventable conditions. This is from the mindset that everyone knows what is good for them. Unfortunately, this is not the case for all people. There are those who take what they believe is good for them. Though it is assumed that everyone has the resp...

Africa is considered the most profitable continent to do business, with great potential for diverse business due to the available resources. This is seen through the number of foreign investors that come to the continent for various business projects. This has led to many countries of Africa becoming more and more open to the rest of the world. Still, Africa has nations that are more economically stable than others. It hosts 21 of the 25 poorest countries globally, making just slightly less than 50% of the continent’s number of countries. With this kind of poverty level, even where healthcare is being considered a priority, it is difficult to meet the required standards of healthcare set by the governments and international bodies. For some of these nations, attaining the SDGs and the UHC goals is a pipe dream. Health infrastructure in these countries is limited. There are records of deaths from diseases that could have been prevented were the requisite healthcare infrastructure and re...

 The COVID-19 pandemic has without a doubt become one of the greatest teachers of our times globally and at local levels that working together yields better returns on efforts put in.   Whereas in the past it has been each health service provider for themselves, collaboration amongst providers has been key in averting deaths and worsening of health conditions. Observing the situation in Kenya, Jayesh Saini, a Kenyan national says that hospitals were reaching out to each for supplies such as oxygen, blood, antibiotics, masks, gloves, and even ICU beds. He pointed out how appeals on social media or other mediums of communication were acted upon with such solidarity, all aimed at saving lives.   Kenyans are known as resilient people who put their differences aside in times of calamity and during this COVID-19 pandemic has been on another level. Individuals and organisations have come out in large numbers to donate blood. For-profit organisations have kept aside their...

 More and more, people are learning great lessons from the current COVID-19 pandemic. There is an exposure to the faults and weaknesses in the health care system, whether in developed or developing economies. The inequalities between the two economies are undeniable in so far as the infrastructure and resources available.   It looks like suddenly decision-makers have realized how important the medical professionals are in the success of health facilities. Interestingly, governments realized that their sometimes-unorthodox way of handling this group of people could not work and many had to accept some demands that had been pending for years just to save lives.   The pandemic has brought to the fore that a good infrastructure without sufficient medical personnel does not take care of patients; both are important and none should be preferred over the other but should be developed together. Governments have had to recall medics from leaves and even hire those who have...

Even with the advancement of free information through many media platforms, there remains a group of people who do not have any trust or confidence in generic drugs. Their outlook is based on the cheaper pricing of the generics and concludes that they must be inferior to branded drugs in quality and efficacy. This has at times caused untold friction between service providers and recipients as when accused of prescribing or dispensing “fake” medications. In some instances, there has been no understanding even when the pharmacists explain that the pricing has nothing to do with the quality or efficacy. There are also those who will adamantly ask for branded drugs because they believe it gives them a higher status. There is still another group that will request generics, by knowledge and others because it is much cheaper than brand. So why all the confusion? According to Jayesh Saini, this is mainly brought about by a lack of proper information to the masses regarding why generics are c...

 Unlike other pandemics experienced globally, the COVID-19 Pandemic has brought into light the misfortune of having delayed communication on what is happening. Over one year later, one of the reasons why some people do not follow instructions given to deter the spread of the virus has been as a result of contradictory information being released by governments and healthcare decision-makers.   This has unfortunately led to conspiracy theories taking place amid truths, and the theorists seem to have been more forceful in their campaigns. For example, it is common knowledge that developing vaccines normally takes years of R&D before a vaccine can be rolled out to the masses. The duration for the COVID-19 vaccines to be researched, developed, manufactured, tested, and rolled out took less than a couple of months. The relevant bodies, in the worst-case scenario, should have explained to the masses what is different about this particular virus/vaccine, besides the magnitud...

With various models of payments for health services, the world over in general and Kenyans in particular, people are always seeking ways to beat the systems for maximum advantage. This queer behavior has infiltrated the health industry. Unfortunately, the enrolled members who are players in this unfortunate game have not understood the adverse effect of their actions, on themselves and on the entire health service delivery cycle. Some patients will move from one facility to another to get treatment for the same condition to get the same drugs; the intention is to sell the drugs for a few bucks, without realizing that they are depleting their own cover amounts. When they have a medical need, they realise they do not have enough balance and unfortunately, they already used the money they got from the illegal transaction for other purposes. Consider a scenario where a patient knows that they have unlimited access to their medical cover. There are those who will unnecessarily go to the...

 There is an old, yet frequently used adage that says a healthy nation is a wealthy nation…and to the most extent this is true. But isn’t it also true that a poor nation is an unhealthy nation? “This is a very interesting statement, if one thinks of it critically, was Jayesh Saini’s comment when asked on what he thinks should be a priority. He said the two must grow together, stating that if the nation is so poor, its people cannot afford healthcare services, let alone eating and living healthily to avoid sickness and diseases. On the other hand, if the nation is comprised of so many sick people or very critical diseases, the economy will not grow as the people are kept away from productive lives and whatever resources are available are used for medical bills. This is made clear in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) where there is a clear interrelationship between economic growth and health. SDG 3 on health seeks to “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ...

World over, most healthcare systems focus treatment of diseases with little input in prevention and other pillars towards comprehensive health management. This has caused increase in deaths and health care costs continue increasing in ways that are an unsustainable rate. Without mitigation factors in place, this will lead to compromised quality through too little too late. The culture of medical intervention (help because it has happened) must change as a priority to interception (stop before it happens) if this trend is to be reversed. The cost of preventive healthcare is far much lower than of intercepting when disease happens. The question begs then, why there is such high mortality rates due to potentially preventable conditions. This is from the mindset that everyone knows what is good for them. Unfortunately, this is not the case for all people. There are those who take what they believe is good for them. Though it is assumed that everyone has the responsibility to take care ...

The Majority  of people believe that health services should be offered in a fixed/static building. This notion is ingrained because that is what people have grown up knowing and seeing. The mention of mobile health clinics invokes various emotions dependent on the people groups; for those in urban areas where there are clinics and hospitals, it would be a raw deal to be told to access services in a mobile clinic while to one in a remote place with no facilities, a mobile clinic would be a Godsent. A mobile health clinic is a vehicle e.g. a bus, trailer, or container that is innovatively modified and equipped with facilities and medical personnel needed to provide certain health services. The services and medical personnel are dependent on factors such as the size of the clinic and the target population. Services available can include doctor consultation, laboratory, pharmacy, and triage. Commenting on the use of mobile health clinics, Jayesh Saini stated that the main purpose of ...