HEART TO HEART (Herald, Dec 18)
By Ethel Da Costa
Man with a golden heart
INTRO: Charity begins from the heart, believes Dr Kiran Patel, ace cardiologist, entrepreneur, community leader, philanthropist and chairman of the `Patel Foundation for Global Understanding, in Tampa Bay, Florida, USA. He breathes new life and robust health into ailing rural hospitals in India, turning `dead investment into thriving healthcare for the community. In the process of acquiring `Central Hospital in Usgao, Ponda, Goa as part of his private-public community initiative healthcare project,
Dr Patel is all set to give this neglected mining town a facelift of spirit.
By Ethel Da Costa
Man with a golden heart
INTRO: Charity begins from the heart, believes Dr Kiran Patel, ace cardiologist, entrepreneur, community leader, philanthropist and chairman of the `Patel Foundation for Global Understanding, in Tampa Bay, Florida, USA. He breathes new life and robust health into ailing rural hospitals in India, turning `dead investment into thriving healthcare for the community. In the process of acquiring `Central Hospital in Usgao, Ponda, Goa as part of his private-public community initiative healthcare project,
Dr Patel is all set to give this neglected mining town a facelift of spirit.
Charity does begin at home. Its the cliché I know, but it rings sincerely true, especially when you meet Physician, Entrepreneur, Community Leader and Philanthropist, Dr Kiran Patel from the U.S.A. A multi-billionaire cardiologist who wears his billions with complete humility in the service of the less-privileged, Dr Patel was in Goa lending vision and purpose to his dream of making health care -- through a joint public-private partnership of NGO and government initiatives -- available to rural people who need it the most. Breathing fresh life and new purpose into the `lost
and shut down Central Hospital at Usgao ---- a mining town on the outskirts of Ponda, Goa, inhabited by marginally poor villagers dependable on employment generated through mining related activities, and consequently neglected by any sort of developmental projects initiated by the State government ---- Dr Patels project fuels a fusion collaboration of US doctors, NGO support and local government infrastructure, using a self-sustainable model of service through accountability. Built in 1974 on
a sprawling 60,000 sq meters of land, the Central Hospital begs for attention, after the local government reached a dead-end in acquiring a take-over of the premise. An advocate for Cultural change through the involvement of community, empowerment and accountability to initiate a sense of belonging and doing the right thing, Dr Patel hopes to change the face of healthcare in general, and the fate of Central Hospital in
particular, through a unique, workable `bonding of goals, expertise, manpower, community service and funds.
| [Times file photo] |
| Dr. Kiran Patel and his wife, Dr. Pallavi Patel, are giving $18.5-million to USF to kick-start the Kiran C. Patel Center for Global Solutions. |
managed care contracts and growing to serve more than 8,000 patients.
Continuing to innovate in the managed healthcare arena, in 1999 Dr. Kiran Patel acquired and turned around a struggling New York HMO, going on to earn revenues of over $1 billion, serving over 400,000 members, and employing more than 1200 people. Selling a majority of his family medicine business, he then turned his attention to the familys many philanthropic interests. In 2003, he was appointed by Floridas governor to the University of South Florida Board of Trustees. Soon, he became the Chairman
of A.A.P.I, a professional organization representing over 40,000 American physicians of Indian origin. It was from this vantage point that Dr Patel began to tackle several significant humanitarian projects in India, including the construction of numerous hospitals, a diabetes research study, and improved healthcare access for poor and rural citizens. Together, the Patels have also made possible the Charter School at the
University of South Florida, as well as the highly celebrated Tampa Bay Performing Arts Conservatory which supports creative _expression_.
Consequently, in 2004, the Drs. Patel were awarded the `Cultural Contributor of the Year Award by the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce, USA. Today, his Foundation also supports a yearly U.S scholarship fund for underprivileged youth and the IMAGINE Project, which teaches philanthropic entrepreneurism to young leaders. CHART/India, another innovative Foundation project, works aggressively to provide HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention and education programs throughout Indias rural and urban populations.
But this is not about Dr Patels numerous laurels. It is his ability to get you misty eyed with the deeds of his simple, big heart. Seeing the bright faces of the 40 five-year-old little children, standing with a rose in front of the little pre-school his foundation supports in the dusty Dharbandora village of Usgao, I realized God must make more men seek the less fortunate and generously give of their compassion. In touch with his spirit, I watched Dr Patel effortlessly mingle with the locals, back
slapping people he had never met, making easy conversation with the staff of the Central Hospital, pepping up their morale, while continuously staying focused on the direction he wanted his team to take. Goa is a beautiful place. You must convince your government to support public-private initiatives to bring about cultural change. Self sustenance, independence and accountability are the key words. We must learn to maximize what we have, he advised.
Fronting similar projects in his hometown Gujarat, picking up ailing community centres and turning them around with purpose supported by vision, community service and funds, Dr Patel serves as a role model in universal humanitarianism. In six months, I see these empty hospital corridors buzzing with patients, he challenges the staff of Central Hospital. I do not doubt his confidence. For a boy who consoled himself that the only way to get attention as an individual (against a racial background in the US) was to excel in his skill as a cardiologist, Dr Patel has come a long way.
Heres looking forward to a new lease of life for Usgao.
But this is not about Dr Patels numerous laurels. It is his ability to get you misty eyed with the deeds of his simple, big heart. Seeing the bright faces of the 40 five-year-old little children, standing with a rose in front of the little pre-school his foundation supports in the dusty Dharbandora village of Usgao, I realized God must make more men seek the less fortunate and generously give of their compassion. In touch with his spirit, I watched Dr Patel effortlessly mingle with the locals, back
slapping people he had never met, making easy conversation with the staff of the Central Hospital, pepping up their morale, while continuously staying focused on the direction he wanted his team to take. Goa is a beautiful place. You must convince your government to support public-private initiatives to bring about cultural change. Self sustenance, independence and accountability are the key words. We must learn to maximize what we have, he advised.
Fronting similar projects in his hometown Gujarat, picking up ailing community centres and turning them around with purpose supported by vision, community service and funds, Dr Patel serves as a role model in universal humanitarianism. In six months, I see these empty hospital corridors buzzing with patients, he challenges the staff of Central Hospital. I do not doubt his confidence. For a boy who consoled himself that the only way to get attention as an individual (against a racial background in the US) was to excel in his skill as a cardiologist, Dr Patel has come a long way.
Heres looking forward to a new lease of life for Usgao.
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