Current Position
- Group Medical Director, Apollo Hospitals Group since September 2005
- President, Global Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (GAPIO) since January 2020
- Honorary Clinical Professor at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia since June 2015
- Senior Consultant Pediatric Gastroenterologist and Hepatologist, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi since 1997
Current Responsibilities
Group Medical Director, Apollo Hospitals Group
Apollo Hospitals Group has 73 hospitals, more than 100 clinics with a presence in quaternary care, tertiary care, secondary care, primary care, IT, education, research, project consultancy, pharmacy retailing and telehealth.
Responsible for all clinical services including launch of new services, recruitment, credentialing, privileging of consultants, outcome measurement, patient safety and quality improvement. Oversight of clinical governance through 15 multidisciplinary committees including:
Ethics Committee
Clinical Audit Committee
Medical Audit Committee
Credential Committee
Appraisal Committee
OT Committee
Drug and Therapeutics Committee
Transfusion Committee
Death Review Committee
Infection Control Committee
Quality Steering Committee
Ethics Committee for Clinical Trials
Medical Records Committee
Code Blue Committee
Clinical Excellence and Quality Improvement
Guiding the quality improvement initiative for the Group – 8 Apollo Hospitals have been accredited by Joint Commission International (JCI), USA, the largest by an private hospital group in the region Helped create and implement:
Apollo Clinical Excellence (ACE@25) – a clinical balanced scorecard which has been written up as a case study for MBA Programs
- The Apollo Standards of Clinical Care (TASCC)
- Apollo Quality Program (AQP)
- Apollo Incident Reporting System (AIRS), Apollo Critical Policies, Plans and Procedures (ACPPP)
- Apollo Mortality Review (AMR)
Apollo Clinical Excellence (ACE@25)
ACE@25 is a balanced clinical scorecard which was launched 2009. ACE @ 25 incorporates 25 clinical parameters which are benchmarked against the world’s best published outcomes. For example, the CABG survival figures are bench marked with Cleveland Clinic (99.4 %). ACE @ 25 was published as a case study by the Ivey School of Business, Canada, presented at the ISQUA Annual Conference in Hong Kong and won the FICCI Excellence Award in the category of Addressing Industry Issues in 2011. ACE @25 has undergone four revisions and is now referred to as ACE 1.
The Apollo Standards of Clinical Care (TASCC)
TASCC was implemented across all Apollo Hospitals in April 2012. It encompasses six initiatives – Clinical balanced scorecards, ACE 1 and ACE 2, Apollo Quality Program (AQP), Apollo Mortality Review (AMR), Apollo Incident Reporting System (AIRS) and Apollo Critical Policies Plans and Procedures (ACPPP). The TASCC monthly scorecard comprises of the scores for each of these initiatives plotted as a hexagon. The target each month, for every hospital, is to achieve the perfect hexagon.
Apollo Quality Program (AQP)
To bring uniformity in the quality of care across the hospitals, the Apollo Quality Program was initiated. The Apollo Quality Program includes implementation of standardized methodology for Clinical Handovers, International Patient Safety Goals, Surgical Care Improvement and Zero Medication Errors.
Measured as a dashboard of 20 parameters, it has resulted in improvement in patient safety processes across Apollo Hospitals and has been published in the official journal of the International Hospitals Federation.
Apollo Mortality Review (AMR)
The mortality review in all Apollo Hospitals has been standardized with trigger criteria, checklists and peer review processes. A structured review of deaths (not just ‘unexpected’ deaths) helps detect quality issues that would otherwise remain hidden, particularly around every day processes of care.
Apollo Incident Reporting System (AIRS)
AIRS provides a platform of tracking and monitoring of incidents that pose a safety risk to patients and staff including sentinel events.
Apollo Critical Policies, Plans and Procedures (ACPPP)
ACPPP are a set of 25 policies covering clinical care, nursing care, managerial processes and infrastructural requirements like consents, critical test results, disaster management, that have been implemented by all hospitals.
Apollo Quality and Innovation Awards
Conceptualized the annual Apollo Innovation and Quality awards.
The aim of these awards is to promote excellence through sharing of innovative practices in clinical services, finance, operations, environment, community service and human resources across the Group. In 2019, more than 200 nominations were received.
International Congress on Patient Safety (IPSC)
Helped curate the Apollo International Congress on Patient Safety (IPSC) in 2011 which has become the most sought-after annual forum on Patient Safety in Asia.
IPSC is organized annually and attracts faculty and delegates from more than 20 countries. The last congress in 2019 attracted more than 2000 delegates.
IPSC has been privileged to have had the support of knowledge partners such as International Society for Quality in Healthcare (ISQua), Joint Commission International (JCI), World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), Royal College of Physicians London, the APAC Forum, International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM), National Accreditation Board for Hospitals (NABH), Academy of Hospital Administration, Society of Emergency Medicine to name a few.
National and International Awards
Oversight of national and international award programs. In 2019, Apollo Hospitals won 83 International and National awards.
Academics and Research
Academics
Post Graduate Medical Education
Helped expand the academic program from 3 locations to 14 Apollo hospitals accredited by the National Board of Examination (NBE).
With more than 900 trainees undergoing training in 44 specialities and super specialities, 10% of all NBE trainees in India train at Apollo Hospitals.
Apollo Medicine
As Executive Editor, launched Apollo Medicine (ISSN No. 0976-0016), the official journal of the Apollo Group in 2004. The journal is published in collaboration with Wolter in both print and electronic formats.
The journal has a panel of 110 reviewers. It is published quarterly and is distributed to all consultants of the Apollo Hospitals Group, 400 Medical Colleges and various subscribers around the world. Current and all previous issues of the journal can be accessed at www.apollomedicaljournal.net. The journal is indexed on Science Direct.
President, Global Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (GAPIO)
Global Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (GAPIO), a non-profit organization was established in January 2011. The aim of the organization is to bring together 1.4 million physicians of Indian origin in the world on one professional platform. This substantial workforce of physicians is a valuable resource, which can help to mobilize significant developments in the healthcare globally as well as in India.
Expanded the presence of GAPIO to 53 countries. GAPIO members belong to various medical specialties and super specialties which includes several Padma awardees, twenty Dr. B C Roy Awardees, recipients of National and International awards.
Conceived and help launch The Global Indian Physicians COVID-19 Collaborative and launched it on 11th April 2020 with joint efforts of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), the British Association of Physicians of Indian origin (BAPIO), the Canadian Indian Network Society (CINS) and Canadian Association of Physicians of Indian Heritage (CAPIH). Several sessions with participants from 30 countries have been organized including:
Finding Calm in the COVID-19 Chaos with B K Sister Shivani on 18th April, 2020
Navigating the way forward after COVID -19 with Sadhguru on 6th June. 2020
Compassion in Medical Practice with His Holiness the Dalai Lama on 23rd July, 2020
Initiated 15 programs:
- Advocacy – conceptualised 6 position papers that shall have a far reaching impact on graduate medical, post graduate medical, nursing, allied health education in India
- Instituted six categories of awards to recognise global Indian doctors
- Developed clinical knowledge, leadership and mentorship programs
- Established innovation and mind body and soul equilibrium programs
Professorship
Appointed as an Honorary Clinical Professor at Macquarie University, Sydney in Australia in 2015.
Senior Consultant Pediatric Gastroenterology and Hepatology
Appointed as a Senior Consultant at the age of 29, the youngest ever Senior Consultant in the Apollo Group in 1997.
Established the division of paediatric gastroenterology and hepatology, the first in the private sector in India at Apollo Hospital, Delhi in 1997.
Created the first nationally approved 2-year training fellowship (Fellowship of NBE) in India in 2014, the first annual hands on pediatric endoscopy course in South Asia in 2014 and the first annual training program for pediatric gastroenterology hepatology and nutrition in India in 2011.
Helped set up the first successful pediatric liver transplant program in India in 1998 at Apollo Hospitals, Delhi. The Apollo Transplant Program has been the busiest solid organ transplant program in the world since 2012. The Apollo Transplant Program has performed more than 3800 liver transplants out of which 426 have been in children, the highest in India.