Magsaysay awardee calls for quality, inclusive health care

MANILA, Philippines — A Ramon Magsaysay awardee reiterated his call that every individual, whether rich or poor, should have equal access to quality and inclusive health care because it is a human right.

Indian surgical oncologist Ravi Kannan R. said that no one, especially poverty-stricken individuals, should ever be denied treatment due to lack of financial resources.

“Everybody has the right to have the same quality of care, the same rights to a good quality health care,” Kannan said during his lecture as a Ramon Magsaysay laureate.

“Just because we treat poor people does not mean we give poor quality care. That is fraud,” he added.
The Indian doctor, who is director of the Cachar Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (CCHRC), paved the way to making cancer treatment accessible to the poverty-stricken sector in Assam, a rural state in India.

The poor often resort to exorbitant means in order to access health care, Kannan said.
The easiest yet most cruel decision they are often forced to make is to ignore treatment, he added.
This striking realization drove the Indian doctor to rethink and change the way sick people are treated, especially the poor.

In 2007, when Kannan became the hospital director at CCHRC, he and his team began adopting pro-poor strategies and approaches to provide accessible health care to impoverished patients.

They began removing hidden charges and carrying out cost-reduction strategies. They also branded themselves as a pro-poor health care facility by dressing and talking simply in order to lessen intimidation and gain trust.

However, Kannan shared that despite their efforts to make health care accessible to the poor, they recorded a low compliance rate among the patients.

In 2010, three years after he became director, only 22 percent of their patients came back and completed treatment. The rest never came back for a second visit.

“That was a mind-boggling piece of information for us. All that we were doing was not changing anybody’s lives,” Kannan said.

Driven by compassion and commitment to help the poor, Kassan and his team persevered and put in place more institutional measures over the years to reach out to the poor.

Among the most noteworthy were monitoring patients’ attendance by calling them individually, paying them home visits, reducing waiting time and providing ad hoc employment.

They also built satellite centers and started a national cancer grid, which now has over 300 health organizations that help and support each other to reduce treatment costs.

“Each of these activities improved the care in the community, improving the number of people who were completing treatment,” he said.

Due to institutional measures in place, the compliance rate among patients significantly increased from 28 to 70 percent.

Furthermore, the center now gives free or subsidized cancer treatment to nearly 75 percent of its patients.

And from just 23 employees, the hospital now employs over 451 medical staff.
Despite the remarkable growth of the center, Kannan said they will always remain true to their mission of providing inclusive, accessible and quality health care to the poor.

Citing their vision, Kannan said they aim to become a state-of-the-art cancer center that will ensure that “no individual develops a cancer that can be prevented.”

Pro-poor treatment

Kannan, who is a firm advocate of inclusive and accessible cancer treatment for the poor, was named one of the laureates of the 2023 Ramon Magsaysay Award.

Susan Afan, who heads the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, said Kannan is a remarkable individual who dedicated his life to making a profound difference in the world of health care.

“He transformed the perspectives and mindsets of people affected by cancer, guiding them away from feelings of suffering. He has empowered them and their families to embrace the various solutions and interventions for holistic care,” Afan said.

The three other recipients of the 2023 Ramon Magsaysay Award are Mirriam Coronel-Ferrer from the Philippines, Eugenio Lemos from Timor-Leste and Krovi Rakshand from Bangladesh.

Referred to as the Nobel Prize of Asia, the Ramon Magsaysay Award is bestowed on individuals who embody “greatness of spirit and transformative leadership in selfless service to people of Asia.”