Goals

My days in the HR department of Uttar Pradesh Technical Support Unit often made me think about the mission and vision of the organization. My first true introduction to the public health arena came in 2014 when I was offered for HR session in CRM program in a Farrukhabad district, UP. The passion of staffs fascinated me as I saw the range of problems that public health professionals were trying to solve in innovative. I was in doubting my future career choice as a HR professional. Although I loved my job, that was my passion since my Graduation but something bothered me after few field visits during District level recruitment process. I needed a career that helped a large number of people, emphasized prevention and primary care rather than hiring and supporting them indirectly in terms of administrative management and that motivates me to switch my passion from hiring to serving for my community.
I can describe my interim plan, but I will do so with both optimism and also caution, knowing that I will inevitably face unforeseen complications and will need to adapt appropriately. One of the many insights I gained as a student of the IIPH and by field visits in slum and government setup was the incredible. I was part of a team during my working tenure that was saving lives under incredibly difficult circumstances—sometimes while under lack of proper institutional delivery setups (maternity) and with very less no of medical staff. I am now interested in how I can use my skills to deliver health care in similar circumstances where basic medical infrastructure is lacking. I see a lot of potential uses for the skills such as, communicate and advocate for MCH component, empower people with knowledge at the “grass roots”, conduct evaluation and research related to health education, administrator and manage govt imitative health programs so that the beneficiaries easily access.
In three years’, time, I hope to be trained public health professional in the field of public policy. I hope to conduct research in the field of health care infrastructure and work with government agencies and legislators to find creative solutions to improving access to emergency facilities in currently underserved areas of the UP, with an aim towards providing comprehensive policy reports and recommendations on how the UP can improve its outcomes. While the problems inherent in our health care system are not one-dimensional and require a dynamic approach, one of the solutions as I see it is to think less in terms of state-of-the-art facilities and more in terms of access to primary care. I want to be a key player in the health care services and offering innovative solutions to delivering high quality and cost-effective health care to all, especially to those in rural and otherwise underserved areas.
In short, I see the role of public health professionals in society as multifunctional: they are leaders, innovators, social scientists, and patriots. I have no doubt that the next 1-3 years will be similarly unpredictable, but I can assure that no matter what obstacles I face, my goal will remain the same.