About

Centre for Healthcare

The Centre for Healthcare (CFH) originated to fill the paucity of rigorous healthcare research in India on Indian context from a management perspective. Our objective is to bring together academicians from management, public health, health economics, practitioners, and research active medical professionals to understand and solve fundamental issues in healthcare in low and middle-income countries (LMIC).

The CFH focuses on projects related to health, wellbeing, nutrition, and healthcare enablers such as technology and data. Further, it aims to generate thought leadership in management aspects around healthcare. Members work on fundamental research around healthcare such as individuals’ and communities’ understanding of the notion of health and risk, drivers of healthcare demand, and follow-up care-seeking. Members also work with various healthcare practitioners in generating knowledge around provision of equitable and affordable primary healthcare.

Beyond research, CFH at IIMU works towards improvement in the healthcare sector with focus on promotive and preventive care to promote wellness, develop synergies with organizations involved in healthcare management either in the public sector by working in partnership with the state governments and private primary healthcare service providing organizations. Our main focus is on providing the knowledge transfer to such private organizations and working on the research part of the intervention.

Vision:

CFH’s vision is to be a global platform that brings together academicians and practitioners and to enable scholarly, impactful, rigorous research using management lens to promote health and wellbeing of rural Indian and LMIC population.

Mission:

To be a catalyst for healthcare providers, decision makers, and researchers and to generate and facilitate the use of knowledge to improve the health of the underserved.

Area of Focus:

Health:

WHO states health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

Unfortunately, our country is suffering from severe inequity in healthcare, where the urban areas, especially the metros and megacities, have a high concentration of private hospitals, leaving behind the rural areas which lack even the basic health services.

Centre for Healthcare is working towards understanding the drivers of equitable care and improving the demand for primary healthcare, especially in rural areas, with a view to inform both policy and practice through rigorous research.


Wellness:

WHO defines wellness as “the optimal state of health of individuals and groups,” and expresses wellness is as “a positive approach to living.”

The aim of the Centre for Healthcare is to research and document the drivers of preventive and promotive care to improve the overall wellness of an individual and community as a whole.


Food and Nutrition:

Food and nutrition play an important role in the health and development of an individual. Eating right kind of food in right amounts ensures good nutrition and health. Food is a critical component in lifestyle diseases- diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. At the under end of the spectrum, malnutrition is one of the biggest reasons for under-5 mortality in various parts of the world, including the region of South Rajasthan where IIM Udaipur is located. Early detection, promotive and preventive care could address this issue.

Centre for Healthcare is working on addressing malnutrition as well as non-communicable diseases (NCDs) related concerns through social marketing led interventions with our partners.


Enablers:

Transformative changes in healthcare can be brought about by the use of technology. Centre for healthcare advocates the intervention of technology in the health sector for betterment in various aspects, right from operational to analysis. Patients’ data can be captured, digitized, integrated for the entire sector and analyzed for the betterment of services. Such data can also produce research than can change our fundamental perspectives towards the field of healthcare.

Activities:

CFH focuses on conducting research on the healthcare sector and allied sectors. It hosts
consultations and conferences, participates in capacity building by conducting
training/workshops for partner organizations, and maintains a data repository for
healthcare.

Advisory Board Members

Dr. Dileep Mavalankar

Director, IIPH Gandhinagar

Mr. Manoj Gopalakrishna

Co-Founder and Chairman- Prozela Healthcare

Dr. Nachiket Mor

Visiting Scientist, The Banyan Academy of Leadership in Mental Health

Mr. Thulasiraj Ravilla

Executive Director at LAICO – Aravind Eye Care System

Committee members

Anirban Adhikary

Professor, IIM Udaipur

N. Viswanathan

Professor, IIM Udaipur

Soorjith Illickal Karthikeyan

Professor, IIM Udaipur

People

We are a diverse group of academicians, researchers and experts coming together with a shared goal of improving health and wellbeing in India.

Prakash Satyavageeswaran

Mentor and Professor, IIM Udaipur

Suma Damodaran

Professor, IIM Udaipur

Vedha Ponnappan

Mentor and Professor, IIM Udaipur

Ashish Galande

Professor, IIM Udaipur

Uday Damodaran

Professor, IIM Udaipur

Team Members

Jaspreet Tuteja

Officer, Centre for Healthcare, IIM Udaipur

Srividya Ramanathan

Research Assistant, Centre for Healthcare, IIM Udaipur

Supriya Madhavan

Research Assistant, Centre for Healthcare, IIM Udaipur

Ashmita Guleccha

Joint Research Assistant under PHI (Initiative in partnership with BHS)

Jaydeep Patwardhan

Joint Research Assistant between Karma Healthcare and CFH