AFPI Karnataka Newsletter

Experiences in the past many months give me immense confidence that the leadership crisis of medical profession in India¹ is on the path to resolution. It is through reimagining primary healthcare as a field and the various roles of healthcare workers that we will get there.

Klaus, et al describes the roles of family physician as²:

• Care provider
• Consultant
• Capacity builder
• Clinical trainer
• Clinical governance leader
• Champion of community-orientated primary care (COPC)

We have seen exemplary leadership all around us. During times of crisis our ability to resist and sustain have been directly related to the amount of leadership embedded among us. But we have to be critical of ourselves and ask whether we have been able to systematically harness our leadership potential to its maximum. When we train individuals, are we making them highly autonomous and capable of performing as leaders? When we build systems, do we create space for growth and emergence of new leaders?

That is where the family physician's role as more than just a care provider attains utmost signficance. Today, the family physician is presented with a huge responsibility - that of fixing the system of healthcare. How do we drive down inequities in healthcare and drive up the quality and comprehensiveness of our healthcare? How do we rebuild trust between the public health system and the citizens? Where do we see ourselves in the next decade and the next pandemic?

We are on the cusp of a transformation. The world now realizes that "let us fix the problem when it hits us in the face" is not an attitude that can save us from massive problems that come unannounced. There is universal acceptance that health infrastructure can't be built overnight. Individuals and organizations everywhere are turning their focus towards fixing this once and for all. What we do today will decide how big of a transformation we are able to bring.

This newsletter issue has many inspiring articles. But it is incomplete. It hasn't heard your inspiring story. What transformation are you bringing? What do you want the world to hear about? Let us use this space to inspire each other to perform to their fullest.