Taking part in the Express Dialogues, Odisha, Singh urges accountability and a return to patient-centred care, with awareness and prevention as the prime focus of the medical fraternity and public health systems.
From pioneering World Hepatitis Day to raising alarms on the surge of NAFLD and other liver diseases, abuse of diagnostic tests, and a collapse of public health systems, renowned gastroenterologist, former head of the gastroenterology department at SCB Medical College and Hospital, and current president of the South Asian Association for Study of the Liver, Prof. SP Singh, gives a blunt account of India's health practice.
Taking part in the Express Dialogues, Odisha, he urges accountability and a return to patient-centred care, with awareness and prevention as the prime focus of the medical fraternity and public health systems.
You started observing Hepatitis B Day in Cuttack on July 28, marking the birthday of Prof. Baruch Blumberg, who discovered the virus and developed the vaccine for the disease. The WHO later adopted this date as World Hepatitis Day. Prof. Blumberg has also mentioned your efforts in his Nobel biographical essay. How do you look back on this journey from a local observance in Cuttack to a globally recognised public health movement?
I look back at it with a lot of satisfaction. I got introduced to the name Blumberg for the first time during my MD days. I wanted to be a cardiologist, but my teacher in the medicine department literally brainwashed me into becoming a gastroenterologist. When I joined gastroenterology, I realised that Hepatitis B was something that was completely preventable through awareness and vaccination.
In 1995, we organised a full-day symposium on Hepatitis B in Bhubaneswar. It was a first-of-its-kind programme, and by that time I was convinced that we needed to do something about it. A doctor's job is not just to treat patients; it is also to treat society. We must address different maladies not only through medical treatment but also through awareness and prevention.
Then in 2001, I thought that a dedicated day was required to focus on Hepatitis B for its eradication. I decided to start it on July 28, the birthday of Dr. Blumberg, and began organising different programmes for creating awareness in society. We created some impact, and the Indian Society of Gastroenterology and the Indian National Association for Study of the Liver adopted Hepatitis B as their society programme in 2005. One day, out of the blue, I got an invitation from the World Hepatitis Alliance, and it was Dr. Blumberg who was responsible for me being called there. The meeting, attended by UNICEF and WHO representatives, had a huge impact. Subsequently, the proposal was put up in the World Health Assembly. July 28 was accepted, and that is how the world adopted the day.