'Our hospitals are rich mines for research'

In the first 15 years of my career I worked on infectious diseases such as cholera, pneumonia and typhoid. Then I worked on non-infectious diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes and heart diseases for 12 years. Usually, adults and elderly people suffer from these complications. Many people in our country die prematurely due to chronic non-infectious disease. Therefore, my work is to diagnose the disease in advance and find a way to improve the health management for the prevention of risk.

No one is born a scientist. A scientist needs to be developed gradually and have the talent required for that. In addition, it demands hard work and honest commitment to one's work. A laboratory, skilled workforce, institutional infrastructure and good management are needed for research. It is not possible for a scientist to arrange all these on his or her own. In that case, the importance of institutional support is immense. Young scientists are developed under the supervision of senior scientists. When the institutional environment favours the senior scientists, it becomes easier for them to groom skilled scientists for the future. Our institution has ensured a proper environment for scientific research. The scope for new researchers has become much easier and wider as compared to the past.

Women have some other social liabilities regardless of their jobs. They have to play different roles at their jobs and at home. We start our day at home and spend the last part of the day with our families. Therefore, women have to fulfil their responsibilities in the family.

In this context, how flexible or tolerant the environment of the organisation is for women is also important. The One or one and a half years after having a child is a very important time in a woman's life. At this time it becomes difficult to do research work along with raising children, due to which many fall behind. At this time they need to have flexible working hours and arrangements to keep their children with them at work. Our organisation has ensured such an environment.

The idea that history or literature is more appropriate for women, not science or technology, still exists in our society today. However, these ideas are changing, but it still largely depends on family preference. Besides, institutional opportunities for scientific research are also very limited.

The physicians or the people who have completed Masters have an opportunity to do MPH where the research is conducted only for a degree. The scope for actual research using that knowledge is very limited.

In this case, government as well as private initiatives are needed. Physicians in our country do not get enough opportunities to conducting research regardless of their gender. They spend most of their time serving the patients though our hospitals are like rich mines of research. If there were advanced infrastructural facilities for advanced scientific activities at the hospitals, the physicians could have taken the privilege of conducting research at their workplaces.

Wherever there is science education, there should be scope of further developing skills and continuous training. Research should be conducted in line with the needs of the country which needs substantial funds. And commitment at the policy-making level of the government is needed to ensure long term arrangement for those substantial funds.

I want to tell the female scientists that they have to respect their own profession. They have to value themselves. They have to make people understand the importance of their job, which is applicable to both their families and workplace. Another thing is they have to develop a mindset to work in collaboration with the skilled scientists at home and abroad.

I decided to work on public health related issues even before completing my internship. That was in1994. Back then, the issue of public health was extremely neglected. As a result, my family opposed my decision. But I was firm on my decision.

Working as a new researcher I found that I have no role in the analysis of the data I had collected. Then I found that it was not possible without completing MPH (masters of public health). I completed my MPH from Johns Hopkins University and got the chance to work as chief researcher. But to conduct the research, I needed to raise the funds for the research on my own. Later, I found that having a PhD ensures a lot of privileges. Then I completed my PhD as well. In this way, I tried to achieve every skill required for my work which needed endless patience and self-confidence. And it is not possible for anyone, male or female, to do that without cooperation from family or the institution. But I have learnt the most from my senior colleagues.

There are ample facilities in the public health services for children up to five years of age, which is absent in case of school children and youth. Again, our public health service is comparatively more easily available for the adults than the elderly ones. I am working on the physical and mental health of people of these two age groups. I am developing a model to make the health services easier and affordable for them. Besides, I am planning to develop an infrastructure for collecting data from entire Asia through research, which will play a significant role in providing early indications in case of an epidemic or any other significant health related issues and necessary instructions to contain the problem. For this, I have taken up a five-year plan in collaboration with Oxford University. The work on this project will start very soon.

At the same time, I am also starting new research this year on developing an effective primary health care system for non-infectious diseases, including high blood pressure and reducing effects of water salinity as a result of climate change.