Eighteen years ago, in remote Bihar, a girl was born with eight limbs. Even as her parents were filled with despair, an orthopaedic surgeon took it upon himself to find the best clinicians from across the world to collaborate on an epic complex surgery. Today, the girl called Lakshmi is living a normal life, all thanks to the love, faith and hope gifted by Sharan Patil, founder chairman of the Sparsh Hospital Group.
Patil has since gone on to perform 2,000-plus free surgeries for children, over 700 surgeries for retired, poor teachers and more than 100 surgeries for our policemen. His contribution towards making hi-tech, complex surgeries accessible to those who need but cannot afford is undeniable.
My Kolkata caught up with the doctor to find out more about his immense contribution to healthcare
Can you please start by telling us where you get the inspiration to do what you do?
I don’t have anything dramatic to say, to be honest. For me, life has been a steady discovery. It all started with discovering my love for being a doctor and then a surgeon.I felt I could learn, imbibe and practise my ideal life through this occupation. When I started, I realised the skillsets and knowledge I had acquired meant a whole lot for the people I touched. This gave my life incredible meaning and purpose. Then the bug of entrepreneurship bit me because I realised I could scale up the impact if I had a dynamic organisation to back me. Nothing can be more inspiring than changing people’s lives. I am so grateful that this self- perpetuating high happens effortlessly for me because this is the job I love, the world needs us doctors and I get paid to do a good job.
What were you like as a child? Do you remember any special incidents that shaped you?
My father, Justice Shivraj Patil, is larger than life and has been a huge influence on me. His USP is listening and empathising and constantly solving others’ problems and so our house was always filled with people seeking his help. I cannot describe the joy it gave us as children (I happen to be the eldest of three) to grow up in the small town of Gulbarga and still be exposed to the stimulating thoughts and conversations of great company. I realised early on that satsang (good company) is very important and today being an entrepreneur I am able to ensure that I only surround myself with the kind of people that I want — folks who inspire me.
I was full of life as a child and loved fun sports. Every Indian plays cricket and so did I. I also played badminton till I was in university and I still watch a lot of sports. As a child, I was mischievous and would often get away because I was good at my studies.
Over the years, there have been several game-changing encounters that I would credit for helping me become the man I am today. Subroto Bagchi, Devi Shetty are examples of thought leaders who have inspired me. In fact, I have a strange habit of never forgetting any conversation with a person I admire. My mind is constantly reflecting on the teachings of great leaders just as much as stray bits of conversations that stick in my mind and come back to guide me at the right time.
As a doctor, I genuinely feel some things come naturally to make you a leader. First comes accountability because you are responsible for someone's life. You are trained to be accountable - make decisions, take responsibility and accept the blame for failure.
-Sharan Patil, founder chairman of the Sparsh Hospital Group
We saw a recent TedX video of you launching a ‘Call to Action’ for all healthcare professionals to donate their time and energy in helping the poor. What has been the response to this?
There has been an absolutely overwhelming response to the TedX Video. I received hundreds of messages of affection, support, gratitude and it hit me, like it sometimes does unexpectedly in life, that there is a humongous amount of untapped goodness around. I felt most of the responses were very genuine, especially where folks said it woke them up and they had not realised that not only were they not doing enough but that they wanted to get involved and suddenly felt empowered to do so. Most people want to do good but often get caught up in the race of life or don't acknowledge the platforms and power they have. I am now working on ways of harnessing this goodwill to make greater impact.
Tell us more about the Foundation you started - what is the size of the problem you are trying to solve and what impact do you hope to have?
The problem is quite enormous. Sparsh Hospital Group or Sparsh Foundation aims at making the best healthcare accessible to every Indian. I really want this to become infectious and to become a movement where the world steps up to change the way that healthcare functions. At Sparsh, we can address this in our vicinity but what about where we can’t reach?
I am very aware of the scale of this, epecially because I specialise in orthopaedics. Thanks to today's scientific advancements we are able to change a lot of challenging physical issues and ensure a productive life, helping people live a life of self-respect and self-sufficiency. I can’t think of a more impactful intervention than that for human life. It plays at so many levels of empowerment — psychological, financial, social. But this needs to be made accessible to everyone, otherwise it is of no use.
How can we ordinary people get involved in the work you do?
In my Tedx Talk, I mentioned that in any walk of life you can be involved in doing good. You can always find folks who are less fortunate than you and if you try to change their paradigm through your skills, your platform or even match the problem to the resources you would do a great service to the world. I'm sure every individual has the ability to make an impact on other fellow human beings at any one of these levels. This is pretty universal.
Thanks to today's scientific advancements we are able to change a lot of challenging physical issues and ensure a productive life, helping people live a life of self-respect and self-sufficiency. But this needs to be made accessible to everyone, otherwise it is of no use.
-Sharan Patil, founder chairman of the Sparsh Hospital Group
Lastly, what advice do you have for all doctors interested in becoming entrepreneurs?
There is an entrepreneur in every human being. Even the guy on the street who is selling vegetables has enterprise in him. But as a doctor, I genuinely feel some things come naturally to make you a leader. First comes accountability because you are responsible for someone's life. You are trained to be accountable - make decisions, take responsibility and accept the blame for failure. Another aspect is teamwork because any doctor has to orchestrate all the different types of staff around him from nursing to bio-medical to administrative to deliver the care. The third aspect is analysis because doctors have to constantly get into the minutest of details and bring various components together to get a solution for their patient which is unique to them. The only area a doctor may not know too much about is finance but as long as you have strong core values you can build the rest around it.
The problem is many doctors don’t have the mindset and they aren’t aware that they can be entrepreneurs. They don’t allow themselves to think beyond the prescription. As long as you care about progress you will be open to learning and therefore to change. I am blessed to have this in my life. Every year has been better than the last and I have had a pretty well-constructed life — grounded and rounded, with family and in my career. Everyday there is something to look forward to. The principles of Faith, Hope and Love have led me thus far and I am enthused to help many more people on my journey ahead.