India’s healthcare system came under lot of scrutiny after Covid pandemic. Visuals of people gasping for oxygen and scores of pyres burning simultaneously in every town and city, still haunt us. So, almost five years down the line, are fully prepared for any such eventuality?
Few people in India can speak in the subject with greater authority than Ms K Sujatha Rao who has spent more than two decades in healthcare sector. For the uninitiated, she is 1974-batch IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre who served for a long time as Secretary in the Union Health Ministry. She has been active in the domain even after her retirement in 2010.
She is also one of the 12-offcers of 1974 batch of Civil Servants who are celebrating Golden Jubilee of their career by penning down their memoirs in a book titled A Rear View – Tales of Administration and Diplomacy. In an interview with Indian Masterminds She looks back at her career and the events dotting it in a candid discussion with Indian Masterminds. In the first part of the interview, she talks about her training in Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Mussoorie and her early career, political pressures faces by her and how she handled them. Please watch the full interview by clicking on this link…
Ms Rao responds to questions like – Why is horse riding is Important for an IAS officer? Her answer: It gives you ability to control an animal, improves confidence to control situation, a must for administrative officers. “Whenever I faced a tricky situation, my back used to straighten like while sitting on a horse and I was handled every situation with ease”, she says.
She talks about her first field posting in Andhra Pradesh. By the time 1974 batch officers finished their training and were ready for the job, the country was under emergency – 1975 to 1977. While rest of the country was crying hoarse on curtailment of civic rights during emergency, the period helped the poor in in Andhra Pradesh in getting minimum wages for poor, bonded labour release, outside pattas, land assignments – 20-point programme.
She talks about the backlash she faced from the upper caste people when she, as chairman of a cooperative bank, for the time gave loan to a person belonging to the Scheduled Caste. She also talks about how tough is the job of an IAS officer and how she faced political pressure as health secretary in Andhra while trying to streamline working of nursing colleges – most of them being either bogus or bring run from garages etc. She was transferred out when she tried to check the corrupt practices there.
She as Union Health Secretary, also tried to reform the Medical Council of India, which she describes as ‘den of corruption’. She was instrumental in setting up of six new AIIMS in the country and describes the support she received from the then Health Minister.
