Health Minister of Bihar, Sh. Mangal Pandey honouring Dr. Subhash Kumar with the CORONA Warrior Award.
The onset of the pandemic demanded our doctors and healthcare workers to don their uniforms and put up a united fight against the Covid 19 virus. We all know how tirelessly our doctors have worked in this pandemic to continuously save millions of lives. But Dr. Subhash Kumar, one of our HealthPlix doctors from Bihar went a step ahead. Along with religiously treating his patients and offering his services for free at several health camps, he also started a series of webinars under the name of “Hum Honge Kamyab” (We Shall Overcome) that grew into a mission to impact thousands of lives.
The COVID -19 pandemic hit without a warning and sent the entire system into high alert. Clouds of uncertainty and lack of adequate information became a constant source of distress among people. That is when Dr. Subhash Kumar took this upon him to educate people and empower them in their healthcare journey during the pandemic.
Dr. Kumar is a Diabetologist practicing in Patna, Bihar for more than eighteen years. He has been using the HealthPlix EMR to treat his patients for more than 6 years.
“With the advice of my father, Sri Gopal Prasad who is a Vipassana and Yogic practitioner, I took this initiative to spread apt information and guidance to confused and misinformed people. I planned weekly webinars on various topics that affected people’s lives closely during the pandemic. I started these in June, 2020 and organised twenty webinars that went on until October, 2020. These one hour webinars happened every Tuesday evening and proved to be of immense benefit to thousands of families in India and abroad.”, says Dr. Kumar.
HealthPlix EMR played a catalyst to this initiative by making it possible for the doctor’s team to fetch his patient’s contact details and data easily from his HealthPlix account. Dr. Kumar adds, “I have more than 10,000 patients on the HealthPlix EMR. It allows their medical records to be conveniently and safely kept in the system. This helped me get back to my patients and reach out to them, and also identify patients who were at high-risk. The HealthPlix team also helped me in sending SMS to my patients directly through the EMR and also gave me extra message credits to reach more patients.” This initiative was supported by the doctor’s entire family including his dietician wife Dr. Sumita Kumari who was one of the key speakers on diet in every session, his daughter Anjali Vijaya, a MBBS student and son Chaitanya Kumar who looked after all technical support for contacting patients, public and doctors for the webinars. They together ensured that the message spreads to as many people as possible.
With his far-reaching efforts, Dr. Kumar was able to bring more than 40 doctors from India and around the world in unison against the virus. He adds, “The plan initially took off with the participation of my doctor friends from India. Then, I also reached out to my batch mates from JSS Medical College (Mysore) and University of South Wales (U.K) and they happily joined in. It quickly gained momentum as distinguished doctors and researchers from England, USA, Canada, South Africa and Nigeria took part in the webinars even if that meant participating during their late hours or on their off days. They shared their experiences and learnings of coronavirus. We aimed at empowering people on all fronts – physically, mentally as well as spiritually. Subjects like preventive measures during COVID-19, recommended diet, exercise routines for the public as well as high-risk patients, yoga and meditation, effects of positive thinking, and lectures on many medical specialities were covered in these weekly webinars.”
This initiative took the shape of a mission with the enthusiastic and tireless efforts of Dr. Subhash Kumar and became so successful that he was felicitated with the CORONA Warrior Award by the Health Minister of Bihar, Sri Mangal Pandey. This was the first initiative of its kind in the entire state of Bihar.
Dr. Kumar has not slowed his pace even after the second wave of the pandemic. He says, “We plan to continue the webinars with even more force if the third wave strikes. It is important to educate people on post-Covid19 effects and the benefits of vaccination.”
This ambitious initiative was not only successful in bringing healthcare professionals together in the fight against Covid19 and getting the right information across to the public, but it also consolidated people’s belief in ‘We Shall Overcome’, if we stay united, well-informed and maintain a positive attitude.
We congratulate Dr. Subhash Kumar for his efforts and success in preventing so many lives from serious loss and health damages. It is inspiring to see how committed Dr. Kumar and his family have stayed in this fight against Covid19.