Dr Muthukumaran Jayapaul

Creating a Path Towards a Healthy Hormonal Balance with Arka Center for Hormonal Health Pvt Ltd

Stop behaving hormonal! Yes, our hormones are always to be blamed for teetering our 'social graces' like a pendulum. Our hormones play an important role in all round health – from physiologic activities, growth, metabolism, appetite, puberty and fertility.

Hormones are not limited to estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone, well, knocking down with a feather, our body host a plexus of around 50 different hormones, balanced properly. With changing lifestyles, unhealthy behavioral choices, chronic stress, genetic factors, hormonal imbalance lurks in our daily lives and let humans experience hormonal disruptions.  Conditions like diabetes, thyroid disease, PCOD and other lifestyle diseases create havoc in our system, making us wonder what's wrong with the body!

Balancing hormones isn't an overnight journey; it's a bit-by-bit voyage which requires you to be well versed with your body and how it reacts to keep this unique hormonal network happy. Today, the reasons for hormonal imbalances have become heavily stained in today's world with our unnatural lifestyle. Unfortunately, most of the hormonal imbalance cases are often treated with hormonal therapy. Dismally, this does not solve the underlying problem. And there is someone who knows better to get your hormonal levels back on track – Arka Center for Hormonal Health. After completing his basic under-graduation in Medicine, Dr Muthukumaran Jayapaul moved to the United Kingdom for his post-graduate training MRCP (UK). After getting his hands on MRCP (UK) he completed a research MD degree from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in Diabetes and Genetics. Making headway for his 5-year super-specialist training program in Endocrinology and Diabetes, he was further awarded the coveted CCT in Endocrinology and Diabetes. Flying back to his homeland, he started his professional journey as a Consultant in Endocrinology and Diabetes in Chennai. Observing the scantiness of a well-established tertiary level specialist center for Endocrinology and Diabetes, Dr Jayapaul started Arka Center for Hormonal Health in 2011. At present, Arka now serves as a referral center for Tamil Nadu and parts of South India for adult and pediatric endocrinology with its proven prowess in advanced personalized endocrine health care to patients with hormonal disorders with a holistic approach. What makes Arka more acclaimed is catering to additional services such as Dynamic hormonal testing – which is only done by a handful of institutes in the country.

The journey of the brand from a small set-up to an effective community service provider

• Establishing a fully automated hormonal laboratory– which is able to provide most test results within an hour – while the patient is on site.
• Dynamic Hormone testing facilities – where we check functioning of various glands by providing hormonal stimulation and suppression in controlled conditions by using drugs or hormones.
• Catering facilities such as FNAC of Thyroid, Nutrition services, Cognitive behavior therapy and Daycare facilities are also available at the center.

Walking on its endeavor to ensure superior quality results by ensuring standardization of all processes, Arka is bringing its vision of providing complex endocrine care with integrity, compassion under the light in a pleasant approachable atmosphere to Chennai.

It's not easy to be a trailblazer; what stands as the key components behind Arka's astounding growth? We sat with the Managing Director and Consultant Endocrinologist, Dr Muthukumaran Jayapaul to find out. Here are the edited excerpts

What motivated you to start your venture? How did the thought come up?

When I moved to the United Kingdom for my post-graduate training, the aim was to bring home the international expertise gained in the developed world back to India. Hormones affect people in intimate ways and so need to be discussed respectfully. Sadly, hormones are too often made to seem mysterious and scientific information about them is treated almost as if it has to be kept secret. Hence, we work with a positive mission: to show that hormonal problems are not imaginary, that they can be understood scientifically and be successfully treated. Our aim was to focus on all patients as individuals and provide every patient with an individualized plan for their medical, emotional, social and spiritual needs. Endocrinology as a specialty offers a choice of bringing this area of medicine out of a big hospital into a smaller individualized and more personalized set-up. Hence Arka was set-up as a daycare facility, with areas of excellence in Endocrinology and Diabetes at a national and international level. We create life-long relationships by changing the way health and health-care are delivered in our communities. We are proud to serve patients, meeting the challenge of their complex medical needs, at the same time with no compromise on quality and safety of care. We will lead our industry in setting standards, developing and delivering the next generation of consumer-driven health care. We bring respect, openness and honesty to all our encounters with patients, families, employees and support the well-being of the communities we serve. We pursue breakthrough medical advancements and practices to deliver superior clinical outcomes.

Digital health has seen a major transformation in the past few years. What impact has it had on your company?

As a company, we have been fully aware of digital health and its impact on the medical industry. Since inception we have an electronic database of all our patients for storage of data, use it to provide and enhance clinical care and offer support in emergencies. Our data is stored on the cloud and we are able to use data from anywhere in the world. Artificial intelligence (AI) has already become a reality in diabetes management. Diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy using AI is already in our clinics and soon to become a standard of care. Multiple health apps and augmented reality are changing the way we interact with our patients and offer new age solutions.

What do you think is the most important thing providers should consider when looking for patient engagement solutions?

Accessibility, accountability and patient-centered services are the key factors in providing effective chronic disease care. This should happen on top of evidence-based clinical care provided by expert clinicians who can assess and identify high-risk individuals who are at risk of complications from their chronic disease. Cost-effectiveness is also a key factor, especially for patients with long-term conditions like diabetes. Over the last few years, medical costs have gradually risen all over the world and it has a key impact on compliance of the patient to the prescribed therapy. Other modes like lifestyle modification apps, health awareness camps, establishing networks within clinical teams and educational courses for patients will be of added value to the system.

What kind of impact do you intend to make in the Indian healthcare space?

While the population growth rate for India has steadily gone down, it is interesting to note that our population is ageing faster than previously thought.  It is predicted that people aged over 60 years will form more than 20 % of the population by 2050. This change in the population pyramid is expected to fuel the demand for healthcare in general and particularly lifestyle diseases. Our area of expertise fits in managing chronic diseases such as Diabetes, Blood pressure, Cholesterol and prevention of heart disease. As a health care provider with well-organized processes, we will be able to provide cost-effective patient-centered solutions.

What advice would you give for the future 'Doctorpreneurs'?

Medical school education is not enough for becoming a doctor + entrepreneur. But at the same time, you need to gain a good amount of experience in your area of interest before you take the plunge. The time and effort to be a doctor is overwhelming and leaves time for anything else. However, begin to develop an entrepreneurial mindset by using materials available and reading outside of your field of interest as often as possible. To develop into a physician entrepreneur you will need education, resources, networks, mentors, experience, support networks and policy partners. At the end of the day – follow your gut instincts when it comes to getting more involved.