During the last COVID-19 scenario in India, the urban healthcare infrastructures received a lot of attention and support from various avenues but their rural counterparts suffered the most. Even if the COVID scare wasn’t the only thing that led to the jeopardizing of the rural healthcare system, absence of doctors and paramedical personnel in the rural hospitals and dispensaries led to no treatment of even routine cases including pregnant mothers and children. Also the lockdown meant that people couldn’t travel to cities for treatment as there was no transportation available. Many lost their lives just because no vehicle could be arranged to take them to a hospital. This condition inspired Dr Sayantani Bhattacharjee, a gynaecologist based in Guwahati, to give up a lucrative urban career, and to start a healthcare organization in rural Assam that would provide affordable, accessible, convenient, sustainable and quality-driven primary healthcare services to all, at the last mile. The key idea was to establish the urban concept of “Polyclinic – all services under one roof” in rural areas so that people would not have to depend on difficult logistics to receive primary healthcare, so that nobody was left to die, just because s/he didn’t live in a city. Thus was born “Better Life – Healthcare at the Last Mile”– a for-profit, primary healthcare driven medical centre that includes a multi specialty family clinic, diagnostic centre, day care and pharmacy. Better Life envisions establishing a chain of such multi-facility, primary health care clinics that are committed to deliver affordable preventive and curative services to all, in last mile areas across the North East. Dr Sayantani Bhattacharjee is a gynaecologist & holds a MBA degree in Healthcare Management. She has a rich cross functional experience of 17 years of working with various kinds of healthcare organizations, both at the grass-root and corporate levels. She has been in top leadership positions in various corporate hospitals in West Bengal and Assam. She is extremely passionate about last mile healthcare and truly believes that small, innovative efforts can create a phenomenal impact in this sector. She is the founder and CEO of “Better Life – Healthcare at the Last Mile”. This organization is based in the tea garden corridor of lower Assam and envisions providing affordable, accessible, convenient, sustainable and quality-driven primary healthcare services to all, at the last mile. She envisions footprints of this enterprise all across North - Eastern India.
