Revolutionizing Diabetes management by changing mindsets.

 Dr. Shyam Kalavalapalli (Founder & Director of IDEACLINICS) is curing India’s ‘National Disease’ – Diabetes – by addressing it proactively, instead of reactively.

Long before the world was bit by the novel coronavirus, India has fighting a pandemic of a different nature - Diabetes. Today, one in six people in India suffers from the condition - with urban India leading the trend and estimates placing the country in second position globally. 
When viewed through the lens of this grim reality, the crusade of IDEACLINICS (Institute of Diabetes Endocrinology and Adiposity Pvt. Ltd - a premier institute dealing with Diabetes and Preventive Health care in India) to help Indians manage the ailment with a more scientific, holistic and proactive approach - takes on an unmistakably heroic dimension. And makes Founder & Director Dr. Shyam Kalavalapalli, quite a modern day Samaritan. 

Hailing from the heritage city of Hyderabad in India, Dr Kalavalapalli spent an eventful, decade long spell in the UK training and learning from the finest – such as Oxford University, Cambridge University and the Imperial College of London. Today, he is actively involved in growing IDEACLINICS – an institution he believes can break the vicious cycle of diabetes by shifting the attention back where it matters: Prevention. 

The current diabetes treatment in India is heavily skewed towards reactive care, and characterized by sporadic, episodic treatments. There is less emphasis on preventive, primary and continuity of care across the length and breadth of the land. This is the precise challenge that IDEACLINICS - Dr Kalavalapalli’s brainchild - has taken on, and the bottleneck in the care continuum that it aspires to crack. 

When we enquire for more in-depth picture, the doctor obliges by clarifying, “While keeping the Patient and the Doctor at the centre of the value chain, IDEACLINICS integrates specialist doctors with technology driven platforms providing care to “All People-All Places-All Times, For Life”. Our mission is to work towards “One Nation-One Data”, actively engage towards India centric research and solutions and reduce the burden on the Nation by keeping its people healthy.

As someone who has chosen ‘the noble profession’ of medicine as his career, Dr. Kalavalapalli’s vocation – an odyssey where he and his team is steadfastly seeding the seeds of ameliorative change – is turning out to be equally noble. “As a doctor, my responsibility lies in taking care of the healthcare needs of Individuals. Non Communicable Diseases contribute to over three quarters of all deaths. As founder of IDEACLINICS, my overarching goal is to ‘correct’ the neglected sector of Preventive health, which is leading to premature deaths with a loss of over a decade of life span and adversely affecting health economics of the Nation with avoidable hospital admissions with complications arising from NCDs.” 
By his own admission, the last five years have been roller coaster ride at IDEACLINICS, where every ounce of energy, talent and focus has gone into conceiving and delivering innovative care solutions in the fields of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Preventative health. So how is his ‘dream venture’ gearing up, and how close (or far) are they to achieving the ‘promised land’, so to speak?            

Dr. Shyam Kalavalapalli is candid in his response, “Ever since we embarked on this journey, we have built a team of over 50 dedicated and dynamic staff members, and served over 100,000 patients. Today, we are well on course to becoming one of India’s finest ‘Idea Hubs’ in the preventive healthcare space. Some of the hallmarks of our success – and indeed, validation of the milestones we have crossed – are satisfied patients, happy staff and a healthier and more aware nation.” 

IDEACLINICS is already being perceived in many circles as a much-awaited agent of transformation, and is ushering a long overdue behavioural and mindset change – in the process encouraging the next generation of idea leaders and entrepreneurs to follow in these chequered footsteps, and ideate new frontiers of possibilities. This can only be a good thing for India, since the time has come for innovative thinking that can successfully weave together providers, research and tech to provide integrated and hybrid delivery solutions - thereby helping the ecosystem move away from the present piecemeal and knee-jerk approach. And in his quiet, diligent way – one that lets success make all the noise – Dr. Shyam Kalavalapalli is heralding the dawn of this brave new era, from the front. 

As we round up this tete-a-tete, we request Dr. Kalavalapalli to spare a line or two about Voice of Healthcare (VOH) – a healthcare thinktank that tributes Idea Leaders such as himself with the goal of adding direction, inspiration and positive energy to the healthcare community. Dr. Shyam Kalavalapalli obliges with endearing generosity, “VOH is providing entrepreneurs with an ideal platform to express their ideas and share their experiences. They should be commended for their efforts in supporting these voices from healthcare who are trying to usher significant and lasting change.” 

*This Story is published by VOH Team