Dr Karan Thakur - Vice- President & Public Affairs at Indraprastha Apollo
Journey to Excellence
Dr Karan Thakur making healthcare a core value, competency and priority at Indraprastha Apollo
In a compass of 23 years Indraprastha Apollo has championed the need to provide an astute health care infrastructure for the developing India. India's best private hospital for sixteen consecutive years has elevated its capabilities to drive innovation and transform healthcare with its adroitness in and an expert faculty. Acclaimed for its quality healthcare services focusing on patient centricity, Indraprastha Apollo has nurtured itself as a household name. As an out-in-front pioneered telemedicine titan in the country, the hospital has anchored its expertise on the vision, chapter and verses of Dr Prathap C Reddy, which reflects the devotion he fosters for the world. A home to clinical expertise with its team of world class doctors possessing a diverse pool of talent, and patient handling, Indraprastha Apollo's mettle has been acknowledged by Joint Commission International (JCI) by crowing the healthcare chief as the First Hospital in India to be Internationally Accredited consecutively for the fourth time. Leading up to the day of publishing this report, the healthcare leader proudly stands as one of the best multi-speciality tertiary acute care hospitals with over 700 beds in India and the most sought-after destination in SAARC region for healthcare delivery.
Rooting itself as a global brand, a horizon spread across 15 acres with a built-up area of over 600,000 square feet and availability of beds with a capacity to expand to 1000 beds, speak volume about its quality and customer service. Right from the infrastructure to the latest medical technology acquisition, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals has always kept its patients first and strived to deliver not world class but the world's best care to its patients since its inception in 1996. What has driven the growth of this flagship healthcare leader?
Well, he is the one who has always been one to roll up his sleeves and get to put his tireless efforts to boost Indraprastha Apollo's progress by harnessing revolutionary changes in the healthcare sector. Surprisingly, he is still at it. He is Dr Karan Thakur, an epitome of those who are more cogent, are outspoken and determined to repair our healthcare system and bringing wellness.
Cruising the voyage of the great
The person shouldering the responsibility of running the ground game for Indraprastha Apollo, Karan is a behind-the-curtains visionary who believes in making progress happen. A natural communicator and a buoyant supporter of digital health innovation, Karan Thakur chairs as the Vice-President, Operations & Public Affairs at the prestigious Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals. Gaining expertise for fifteen years within the healthcare sector, Dr Thakur's top drawers cover health policy, health communications, operations management and healthcare systems.
Dr. Thakur has led a large and diverse team of professionals as part of his role as a hospital administrator. His experience has given him unique insights into organizational behavior, managing performance, change management and leadership development. Dr. Thakur speaks on these subjects in order to help improve organizational effectiveness and helps develop leadership from the shop floor to the boardroom. Of particular interest for him has been composition of hospital boards in improving organizational effectiveness, a subject of his earlier dissertation in University.
Educational Path
Having studied Dental Surgery at the Kurukshetra University, he pursued his Masters in Healthcare Management with distinction from the prestigious Manchester Business School, University of Manchester. He has further under Executive Management training at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.
Professional Stint
Dr. Thakur has done extensive work through various roles at Apollo Hospitals, Delhi which included stints as manager of the outpatient services, one of the largest in country; projects development and strategy, where he was instrumental in the company's growth strategy to increase presence in North India. He successfully managed the acquisition of land, managed the due diligence process and statutory and approvals process for the hospital's Amritsar and Noida projects. As the service line leader for Transplant Surgery, he was instrumental in making the Group the busiest centre for solid organ transplants in the world. He has extensive experience in hospital operations management, have run one of the largest hospital facilities of the country with over 1500 workforce reporting into him. An expert in crisis communications, he has been instrumental in crafting public relations, media management and communications strategy for the Group.
Establishing Mileposts
Dr. Thakur has worked extensively to create awareness in the field of organ donation and was the co-founder of the Gift A Life initiative, a not-for-profit working to create mass awareness on organ donation in India. He is also part of the NATHEALTH sub-committee on Organ Donation. He was most recently awarded the 'National Healthcare Leadership Award 2016' by Arogya Darpan group of publications.
Periscope
Dr. Thakur writes on current affairs and politics and has written for the Times of India, Hindu Business Line, Huffington Post, NDTV, CNN-IBN, NewsRoomPost.com, Pragati – The National Interest Review apart from other publications. He has a fortnightly column on healthcare with The Pioneer newspaper. He has to his credit over a hundred letters to the editor contributions and writes extensively on politics, current affairs and health affairs at www.karanthakur.in. Dr. Thakur is part of India's first new data-journalism initiative, Health Analytics and has contributed in writing and on speaking assignments for them across the country. Health Analytics (healthanalyticsindia.com) is seeking to improve doctor-journalist interactions to herald more data driven journalism in the country. Dr. Thakur has also co-founded Health Collective, an initiative on mental health awareness that curates information, content and news through crowd sourcing and subject experts.
Dr. Thakur is guest faculty at the Healthcare Management unit of the Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Tata Institute of Social Sciences' Health Management program, NIIT's Healthcare Operations Management and Medvarsity's Healthcare Operations curriculum.
His other interests include golf, squash, non-fiction reading and Impressionist-era art. He is also the founder of Books4Humanity, a social initiative helping to make books and learning resources more accessible to children from marginalized sections of society. Dr. Thakur currently resides in New Delhi.
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