A Healthcare Service Provider Cannot Be A Businessman: Surbhi Jain, Founder, Nutriwell

The economics of goodness in health and wellness cannot be ignored. While the health and wellness industry, just like any other has the capacity to be monetised and should be, there is no room for compromising on ethics what so ever. The underlying driving factor has to be the greater good.

"A healthcare service taker is different from any other consumer and has to be dealt with differently, as one mistake can cost a life. Hence, a patient-centric approach is necessary. A healthcare service provider cannot be a businessman," stressed Nutriwell founder, Surbhi Jain at a panel discussion at Women Economic Forum.

She highlighted that, "By 2020, the healthcare industry is slated to be the biggest at approximately 280 million dollars. The allocation of resources is the key focus on preventive healthcare, investing in education awareness, diet, and nutrition. This can reduce the burden of disease tremendously."

Dr. Adaeze Oreh, Public Health Specialist from Nigeria is working in her own way to reduce the burden of disease. A cancer survivor herself, Oreh realised the scarcity of blood for transfusion and the diseases prevalent issues which became even more pressing when terrorism began in the area.

"I came up with a template when terrorism started. I realised the need for safe blood in remote areas. That led to my wanting to do more work in blood donation and blood safety. I coordinated a project between the American and Nigeria government. I also saw a problem in health coverage in the country with only less than 1% of the population with access to safe medical health and Universal Health coverage a distant dream,” shared Oreh.

Currently, in addition to all the work she does in the blood domain, she works closely with adolescents, trying to get more girls into school focusing on careers in medicine and science which is the economics of goodness that she brings to the work that she does.

Today she has been cancer free for 12 years.

Dr. Katerina Horackova, Head Department of Nursing, University of Pardubice, Czech Republic has been working in the space of prevention for years now. She raised money and bought education model for self-examination of breasts. Today she visits schools and works with young women educating them and empowering them in prevention.

Prevention is the gap that needs to be used as a bridge to wellness. More and more people are evangelising and are motivated to give back to society.

Dr. Monika Arora is the Director, Health Promotion Division & Additional Professor and is a public health scientist working in the area of preventing and managing Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) through health promotion and health advocacy. She has been working in public-private partnerships for a while now.

Arora works with youth communities, teachers and parents to teach them to be able to take charge of their health and adopt the health-seeking behaviour, sustainable health, and wellbeing. 

“We empower youth as messengers through this, the prevention message reaches far and wide. We need to start taking care of ourselves at a young age,” stressed Arora.

The ripples created by all those involved in impact work have far-reaching effects.

Change is not only limited to the youth. Pat Duckworth from the UK discovered her entrepreneurial mojo in her mid-50s and retrained as a therapist and coach.  Since then she has published four books including the award-winning, ‘Hot Women, Cool Solutions’.

Working with women going through Menopause, Pat asks many questions.

“I ask what are they going to do with their life. To achieve dreams, it is important for women to live with passion at any age. I want women to come out of the shadows and start living their life. I then asked myself the questions, what can I contribute? How can I serve other women? My passion is about enabling older women to use their voice,” she shares.

Pat works passionately towards infusing meaning to middle-aged and senior women driven by her inherent goodness.

Vasantha Vaikunth too realised her dreams later in life. Vaikuntha, Indian classical dancer, musician, author, and an orator, engaged herself in giving extensive lectures on the practical application of our ancient scriptures in the present world for the past 30 years. She feels the need for the reinforcement of positive thinking in mankind today but misuse of technology has taken the world to disintegrated thinking and lack of focus amongst the youth.

“It is possible to live and fulfil your dreams beyond prognosis and give back at the same time at any age,” she shared.

As a young dancer, she was told she could not dance anymore but after 20 years she got back to her passion and made a career in dance later in life and has won many awards. Today, she is recognised as a cultural ambassador giving back to society, providing cultural and emotional support mentoring women. The rewards she is reaping through this giving are exceedingly fulfilling, she shared.

Komal Shah, Dancer, Kundalini Holistic Healing too has always been enchanted with dance and music. She believes deeply that every form of art has its power, strength, grace, and character that influence society by bringing its own unique value and life energy. She strives to seek out knowledge in various forms of healing which is holistic, which keeps us away from drugs and medications as far as possible. 

She uses all the modalities she practices to spread the awareness of Indian cultural dance and sound. 

Enriching human capital is very important. Lakshmy Ravi Shankar, Founder & Director, Kaizen Consult is an entrepreneur engaged in the field of Human Capital Utilization. She founded Kaizen Consult, a Business Consulting and Training Organisation in 2000 and has been working innovatively since its inception on various dimensions of people management, mentoring and coaching and creating value for the client organizations to fulfil the goal of Human Capital Utilization.

With a varied background in Sociology, Psychology and Economics today she is a practitioner and trainer of Chakra Energy learning and Meditation.

“I'm a strategist. I am not impressed with boring training programs. I work with concepts of reinventing Siddha. The art of mindful living, corporate shamans! Operating from an angle of illness to wellness and focusing on passion compassion,” she stressed.

Shifts can only happen if you are passionate about what you are doing, add to that compassion, it is a win-win formula.

Anu Krishna Founder, Word Weave & Life Coach, NLP Practitioner and Writer stresses on the importance of compassion and paying it forward.

She works in the wellness sector as a life coach and healer.

"One good turn deserves another. It is especially important as coaches, healers, and therapists that we step in and pass on this message. It is important to lead from the heart. We need to change the wellness and health landscape. We need to lead with a  passion of compassion and love,” she believes.

Only if you work on touching lives and spreading messages will transformation take place.

For Life coach Jasmine Waldman, her passion became her occupation because of past health and wellness issues. 

She has a firm belief that you need to help yourself first. “Pay attention to your mental, emotional or spiritual balance,” she believes.

Today, wellness practitioners have a huge responsibility to function with authenticity, honesty, and integrity.