IIM-C Study Says Poor Patients Deprived of Medical Facilities

Kolkata: Indian Institute of Management Calcutta’s (IIM-C) 21 students undertook a novel effort to develop case studies on some of the most pressing problems of India's poorest. Students have initiated with such a mission as part of requirements for the second-year elective course in IIM-C’s flagship PGP programme 'Marketing to the bottom-of-the pyramid customers'.

IIM-C, the premier B-school of the nation, has started this new elective, motivated by Prof C K Prahalad's ideas, to make students conscious of the vital requirements to develop solutions for poor people and advance the role of private sector in poverty alleviation.

As per sources, one of the groups, consisting of Chanderdeep Ekka and exchange students Emila Ozegovic and Pierre-Louis Ruth, developed a video case study on healthcare preparedness by visiting several hospitals in Kolkata and interviewing doctors, patients and their families. Moreover, they were shocked to find that poor patients are often denied admission even if they are critical. Also, they found hospitals lacking in preparedness to treat poor customers.

Besides, Shabad Pratihast, an IIM-C student, and David Rousseau, an exchange student who opted for the course floated this year for the first time by Prof Ramendra Singh made a video case study on the life of a mess worker at IIM-C by going to his village.