Extending a helping hand in the UAE

“Recently a labourer was brought to our clinic with high grade fever, giddiness and heat cramps,’’ says Dr Sanjay Paithankar. The man was also severely dehydrated. Realising that he required immediate medical intervention, a team of doctors began treating the man, recalls Dr Paithankar.

“After about six hours of treatment, the man recovered a bit and the moment he could speak to us properly, he told us that he did not have the money to pay for the treatment,’’ says Dr Paithankar.

“‘It’s all right’ the doctors assured the man. ‘If you can afford to pay us after you receive your next month’s salary, you can,’ they told him. ‘And even if you cannot, it’s perfectly OK,’ they told him.

“But sure enough at the beginning of the next month, the man arrived at the clinic, hale and hearty. Tears of gratitude were rolling down his eyes when he met and told me that I had not only saved his life but the life of his entire family as he was the sole earning member.”

It is moments like this that makes Dr Paithankar feel that his mission to set up clinics for low-income people and offer primary health care at highly subsidised rates (even free to those who cannot afford it) is one that is truly worthwhile.

A gold medallist with an MBBS and MD degree from Nagpur University in India, Dr Paithankar has always believed that it was important to give something back to society and thus make the world a better place.

After arriving in the UAE more than 20 years ago, Dr Paithankar worked in several government and private hospitals.

“During 1988 to 1994, I was posted in the Emergency Services,’’ he says. During the course of his conversation with a few labourers who were his patients he realised that setting up clinics close to where they lived would benefit them hugely.

While there are very good government and medical facilities in the country, clinics offering treatment at subsidised rates close to their housing areas would make a major difference to their quality of life, he says. “I could have set up a plush clinic in a posh locality,’’ says Dr Paithankar. “But I felt that would not give me as much satisfaction and fulfilment as opening a clinic that is easily accessible to low-income groups. I wanted to do something substantial for them - provide good medical services and affordable medicines on their doorstep.’’

To realise his dream, Dr Paithankar pooled his savings and set up a subsidised pharmacy and a clinic in a remote area called New Sanaiya, in Ajman. This area housed a lot of labourers belonging to garment industry units in Ajman.

He chose this neighbourhood after he found that the people here did not have the ways and means to travel to bigger hospitals.

“We used to charge patients only Dh10-Dh15 for consultation and medicine,” he said.

It did not take long for his clinic to become popular and soon people from even the neighbouring emirate of Sharjah began visiting his clinic for consultations.

“The success of the clinic inspired us to work out the details of this model and replicate it in other areas,” Dr Paithankar says.

He opened a second clinic in Sharjah in 1999 and a third in Dubai, close to Sonapur, in 2002. Today he has ten clinics – five in Dubai, four in Ajman and one in Sharjah – all supplementing government facilities by offering low-cost health care and by being easily accessible to people in low income groups.

A successful model

All the clinics that he runs have a similar appearance and a standard design. Each has a reception area with a waiting room facility, two treatment rooms, a dentist’s consultation area, laboratory and radiology facilities.

Each clinic is staffed with a General Practitioner, a specialist surgeon (who conducts operations under local anaesthesia), and a dentist along with laboratory staff.
The clinics are equipped to treat patients with minor health problems such as colds, coughs, fevers and dental problems as well as for minor emergencies such as haemorrhoids and cuts which may require suturing.

The laboratory carries out pathology basic blood tests for blood sugar, blood chemistry, urine and stool testing and X-rays. The charges for all procedures are at least 50 per cent below the market price.

The main objective is to provide those on a low income treatment and medicines at a low price, he says. “In my clinics, the patient is most important. Any discount or subsidy I get from pharmaceutical companies for bulk orders that are made are passed on to the patient. My doctors work on a basic salary and on an incentive per patient fee. The clinics are financially viable due to the sheer numbers of patients who visit them. Today I get around 1,000 patients per day in all the ten clinics put together.

“I don’t charge my patients more than Dh30 for a consultation and Dh10 for a laboratory test. Overhead expenses are not passed on to them but are borne by me. If I find that there is a patient who cannot afford even that, then I make arrangements to provide treatment to him free of cost,’’ he says.

Annual camps
He also conducts two annual medical camps on labour accommodation sites where everything is provided free to the needy.

Dr Paithankar says some government hospitals have been very cooperative and have offered many patients treatment free of cost.

Despite the low fee he charges, Dr Paithankar does not compromise on the quality of medical care that he offers. “I [take on board] doctors with good qualifications and who have a passion to help the poor,” he says.

Over the years, Dr Paithankar has realised that the issues of health care are more complex.

With an increase in the number of patients with health conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol, he found that it is imperative for low-income people to have good insurance cover so they can take advantage of medication and health care on a regular basis.

Protective cover
This led him to come up with an insurance facility for workers. It works on the principle of bulk bookings. Under this scheme he contacts an organisation which has a big workforce and offers them a group insurance package.

This way the worker is not burdened with having to pay a premium but gets access to medical care and medicines for common ailments absolutely free of charge. Also, the charges for major operations are heavily discounted.

The company pays between Dh300 and 500 per person, annually, depending on the kind of insurance cover chosen. Treatment for the workers is free of cost in about 200 clinics in the UAE.

The worker is also assured of getting free medicines from about 200 pharmacies in the country and can elect to go for major treatment in about 12 hospitals in the UAE.

The workers can use this insurance scheme to seek treatment at some leading hospitals in prominent cities in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Philippines. The scheme which began in March this year already has about 100 workers registered under it.

Charting a different path

Says Dr Paithankar: “I thought a lot about the special qualification I had as a medical doctor. While earning a livelihood and achieving success in my chosen field were important considerations, I also realised that God had provided me with an opportunity to serve the sick and the poor. I thought, ‘how much money do I really need? Why not be modest about profits and plough all of it back to help a section of society?’

That led me to set up these clinics. Even today, apart from the subsidised fee, I also make sure that at least ten per cent of the patients are provided medical treatment free of cost.’’
However, he admits there are times when certain conditions force him to hike the fees.

“With the rise in prices and rentals, we recently decided to raise our basic consultation fee from Dh30 to Dh40 to offset the costs. However we found that it was causing hardship to our patients so I decided to work it out in a different way by cutting other costs. I could not see my patients unhappy,” he says.

Cardiology being his speciality Dr Paithankar examines reports of all his patients who have cardiac problems and offers treatment free of charge to heart patients whenever possible.
“No patient is compelled to pay for treatment when he visits my clinic. We always tell a person that he can pay whenever he has the money to spare. These workers are so self-respecting that never have I had a default from anyone who has promised to pay,” he says.

A deeply satisfying cause
Reaching out to the needy is morally empowering and Dr Paithankar feels it has strengthened his core values. He cites the case of a labourer who suffered a heart attack in his camp and had no money to pay for the ambulance that transported him to the government hospital in town. Dr Paithankar’s team called up the hospital and offered to pay the cost of Dh300. The timely help saved the life of this patient.

“If a small amount of money can save a life, I feel it is important to take that step,” says Dr Paithankar.

“I can see the need for similar clinics going up and I am constantly researching new places where I need to set up a new clinic. The most recent is the one I opened at the Dubai Investment Park in Phase I in the Green Community region. I plan to open at least two more in Dubai soon,” he says.

–Those wanting to find out more about the service offered by D. Paithankar can email medical@globalmet-tpa.com or log on to www.globalbnet-tpa.com
–Suchitra Bajpai Chaudhary is Senior Features Writer, Friday