Tag: Executive Director & CEO

News

BIPF’s ‘Professor Ghanashyam Dash Scholarship’ (PGDS) 2023 awardees felicitated

Jul 8, 2024 by Mansi Praharaj 0 Comments #‘Utsah, #AIIMS, #Bansidhar & Ila Panda Foundation, #Bansidhar & Ila Panda Foundation (BIPF), #Bhubaneswar, #Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, #Executive Director & CEO, #Executive Director & CEO of AIIMS Bhubaneswar, #Guest of Honour, #IGIT Sarang, #IIIT Dharwad, #IIT Madras, #IMFA executives, #Indian Metals and Ferro Alloys Limited (IMFA), #Late Prof. Ghanashyam Dash, #Mr. Himanshu Sekhar Patra, #Mr. K.V.M Prassana Kumar, #Mr. Prayas Rout, #Mr. Priyanshu Panda, #Mrs. Ila Panda., #Ms. Abhipsa Chowdhury, #Ms. Priyanka Dalai, #Ms. Shaifalika Panda, #Ms. Shaifalika Panda- Trustee & Founder CEO, #Prof (Dr) Ashutosh Biswas, #Prof. (Dr.) Ashutosh Biswas; Trustee & Founder CEO of Bansidhar & Ila Panda Foundation, #Professor Ghanashyam Dash Scholarship for Higher Education’ (PGDS), #the Bansidhar and Ila Panda Foundation (BIPF), #Tigerlily Foundation

Bhubaneswar, 5th July 2024: Bansidhar & Ila Panda Foundation (BIPF), the social development arm of Indian Metals and Ferro Alloys Limited (IMFA) felicitated the recipients of the ‘Professor Ghanashyam Dash Scholarship for Higher Education’ (PGDS) for the academic year 2023-2024 today.

Every year the PGDS annual scholarship is awarded to six meritorious students (domicile of Odisha) to facilitate higher education in the fields of engineering, medicine and liberal arts across India. In the 19th edition of the PGDS initiative, four students—Mr. K.V.M Prassana Kumar, Mr. Priyanshu Panda, Mr. Himanshu Sekhar Patra, and Ms. Priyanka Dalai—have been awarded scholarships to pursue engineering at IIIT Dharwad, IIT Madras, IGIT Sarang, and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, respectively. Additionally, Mr. Prayas Rout and Ms. Abhipsa Chowdhury have been awarded scholarships to pursue medicine at AIIMS Bhubaneswar.

The students were felicitated in the esteemed presence of Guest of Honour, Executive Director & CEO of AIIMS Bhubaneswar, Prof. (Dr.) Ashutosh Biswas; Trustee & Founder CEO of Bansidhar & Ila Panda Foundation, Ms. Shaifalika Panda, along with other distinguished senior officials from BIPF.

The PGDS initiative covers upto 90% of the academic fees and eligible expenses for selected candidates. It reserves a maximum of INR 6 lakhs per awardee to support the students in completing their four-year professional studies.

Beyond financial support, recipients are also eligible for ‘Utsah,’ an exclusive mentorship program run by BIPF. Through this program, students receive mentorship from IMFA executives, providing regular counseling, moral support, academic guidance, networking opportunities, and assistance in realizing their full potential for a well-planned career trajectory.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Shaifalika Panda- Trustee & Founder CEO, Bansidhar & Ila Panda Foundation, elaborated, “Education has the power to transform. The PGDS was instituted with the aim to contribute to a progressive-inclusive-equitable society where ‘no one is left behind’. This opportunity allows our recipients to unleash themselves from the shackles of their socio-economic barriers onto their journey of professional success.”

Furthermore, Guest of Honour, Prof (Dr) Ashutosh Biswas, Executive Director & CEO, AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, emphasized that true success stems from integrity and values, and said, “While academic excellence is crucial, it is your societal contributions that will determine your lasting achievements. Balance your academic pursuits with nurturing humanity and actively serve the community to make a meaningful impact.”

Instituted in 2005 by IMFA, this scholarship is named after the renowned historian Late Prof. Ghanashyam Dash, father of late Mrs. Ila Panda. It aims to provide equal opportunity through financial assistance to meritorious students and facilitate higher education. PGDS 2024 application process will begin in August 2024 through the BIPF website.

About Bansidhar and Ila Panda Foundation (BIPF)

In 2011, the Bansidhar and Ila Panda Foundation (BIPF) was established to implement sustainable and scalable interventions in the areas of health, education, livelihood and water sanitation. BIPF is structured to partner and collaborate with the Central and State governments as well as local and international organisations to implement programs and drive results for the marginalised communities of Odisha. Skilling & training of rural youth, helping rural household women on being self-reliant, health & hygiene of adolescent girls are some of our key initiatives spread across six districts in Odisha (Cuttack, Rayagada, Keonjhar, Jajpur, Angul and Khorda) touching lives of more than 21 lakhs beneficiaries.

Technology

Preventive healthcare solutions: Importance and need in developing nations

May 25, 2021 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #Executive Director & CEO, #Manorama Infosolutions Pvt Ltd (MIPL), #Ms. Ashvini Danigond

By Ms. Ashvini Danigond, Executive Director & CEO, Manorama Infosolutions Pvt Ltd (MIPL)

The term preventive healthcare remains self-explanatory as it pertains to a form of medical care involving measures undertaken to prevent the occurrence of diseases rather than treating them. This includes advice on routine check-ups for an individual even if he or she is rather healthy considering that lifestyle diseases are asymptomatic in nature. It remains an important determinant of a healthy life.

The healthcare industry has put the spotlight on the importance of preventive care for quite a while now. It may be noted that it’s far easier and certainly less burden in terms of cost to provide patients with the care they need on a routine basis to maintain good health and to prevent illnesses, injuries and diseases from occurring in the future.

In the Indian context, the government has undertaken numerous initiatives over the years such as Health for All and The National Health Assurance Mission to ease the burden of chronic diseases. Through these numerous initiatives, the healthcare modalities being implemented are pivoted towards the prevention, screening, early intervention and new treatment platforms for patients, thus resulting in the facilitation of better patient outcomes.

Preventive healthcare is known to have several benefits, including reduced spending for payers, besides increased lifespan as it allows to catch things early and treat them much easier. In addition, productivity and efficiency at work can be maintained.

Further, preventive healthcare leads to better chronic disease management and reduces mortality. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 50% of the global burden of disease is a chronic illness. Considering that chronic diseases are long-lasting illnesses, which can have a compounding and sustained effect on the social, physical, psychological and economic levels of the individual and society at large. Stopping the onset of illness remains crucial for healthcare transformation and sustainability.

In a country like India, there remain a few challenges, though. Primarily being the tremendous growth in population, which burdens the overall healthcare system and this includes preventive care as well. The doctor-to-patient ratio remains abysmally low, which is merely 0.7 doctors per 1,000 people. This compared to the WHO average of 2.5 doctors per 1,000 people. Improving this situation continues to remain a long-term process.

At the onset, to achieve preventive healthcare, there is a need to start from the core idea: prevention is better than cure. Ideally, preventive healthcare starts with a change in the way we approach our health and our healthcare ecosystem. Preventive healthcare can be achieved by using data-driven informed decisions. In this regard, longitudinal clinical data for patients is critical for the preventive healthcare ecosystem. There is also a need to promote better education and awareness initiatives to ensure building a robust preventive healthcare system.

The healthcare ecosystem in India also needs to be enabled with a framework of preventive caregiving using clinical knowledge, access to clinical data, and usage of new-age clinical tools to enable predictability using artificial intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to alert the patient-caregiver and the entire health ecosystem about the probable adverse event. At the same time, using digital healthcare solutions and connecting them to a larger population and building population health can prove to be a game-changer for this cause. There is a need to promote collaboration and research initiatives for the preventive healthcare system to flourish in an organic manner. The use of health tech devices and connecting data from these smart devices to the mainstream ecosystem will subsequently help to increase focus on patient-centric healthcare delivery. For a country like India, the healthcare industry is at a crossroads and there remains considerable scope for improvement and growth. In the end, it all boils down to the idea and will to use digital healthcare technology, which can also propel preventive healthcare frameworks.