Indiritta Singh D’Mello – Founder & Director Hospital Guide Foundation
Tell us about the Hospital Guide Foundation
Hospital Guide Foundation (HGF) is an NGO with a vision to revolutionise health care in India by making quality healthcare accessible to all sections of society. It is a free service that does not charge its members nor does it have any commercial transaction with suggested healthcare providers or doctors, hence ensuring unbiased suggestions.
Driven by three core values Ethics, Competence and Compassion, HGF’s current core service is providing healthcare solutions by referring members to Ddoctors. HGF affiliates itself with practitioners after doing a reference check, so that the best of advise can be given to patients. Every request is studied and evaluated before suggestions are given. This also involves deciphering the specialty the patient needs to be referred to from the many super specialties that are proliferating. With overlaps in super specialties sometimes it is even difficult for doctors to suggest the correct specialty the patient should be referred to. This methodology gives the patient a better chance for the initial diagnosis to be correct and to seek good advise.
Hospital Guide also has a citizen journal’s forum on Facebook with more than 50,000 plus members and prominent Doctors. This link to the ANI interview with Hospital Guide Foundation explains how the NGO runs.
When was the NGO established?
We started work in 2010 but we got licensed by the Govt of India in 2012 as a company under section 8 for charitable purposes which is the most stringent form of an NGO. This license is granted after a rigorous evaluation process and it involves strict provisions relating to maintenance of accounts and periodic audits. Due to better laws, recognition and administration, this form of a NGO has the most reliable organisational structure amongst NGOs in India.
Which cities are you operating from?
Since we are an online service we cater to people from across India who are looking for healthcare services in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai.
What prompted you to set up the organisation?
Healthcare is essential to all. It is paradoxical that India is emerging as a hub for medical tourism and we cannot even provide healthcare services to our own people. This NGO was set up with the idea of bridging the gap in healthcare between the healthcare providers and the healthcare seekers, so that they find the right match and making quality healthcare accessible to all sections of society.
How do you fundraise?
We are very careful about which organisation we take money from, as we have to maintain the neutrality of our services, so we have not taken funds so far. When we find the right organisation we will be happy to take funds from them. We do not overtly ask for donations from individuals, but they can donate on their own volition.
How can others help?
All the help that we are getting is purely on the goodwill Hospital Guide Foundation has generated. There are many ways one can help this cause; spreading awareness, engaging in social media for the NGO, fund raising, helping increase our network of doctors, giving us technical support and helping deal with patients. We can always find something to suit a person’s skill and interest provided they are committed to the cause.
Who are the faces behind the organisation
Manu Tripathi is the Co-founder and Director of Hospital Guide Foundation. We are honoured to have Dr. Dr. Ranjit Roy Chaudhary, as part of our Advisory Board who has been conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award in Healthcare by FICCI. The details of the Founders, Directors and Advisory board are available on our website
Website: www.hospitalguide.in
Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/hospitalguide/
About Indiritta Singh D’mello
Indiritta graduated from Oxford University, UK in Economics, Philosophy & Politics. She has also successfully completed a fast-track General Management program from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. She has experience of working in patient care and operations with leading hospitals in India. Prior to that she also worked in various aspects of Human Resources with multinational companies.
Indiritta’s background has been an important influence in her desire to work in the area of social development, specially promoting pro-poor comprehensive programs. Her mother, Rajkumari Priti Pratap Singh, (daughter of Late Raja Pratap Singh of the state of Kuchaman ) and one of the last descendants of Mira Bai, is working towards reviving the dwindling crafts of Rajasthan. Her father Late Rudolf D’mello, an Oxford graduate himself, was an ambassador to Cuba. He was a politician who was actively involved in the freedom movement of Goa.
After having worked in some of the leading hospitals in India as a hospital administrator, Indiritta realised that a platform such as Hospital Guide was necessary to ensure accessibility of quality healthcare for all sections of society in India. Since Hospital Guide’s inception in April 2010, Indiritta has been relentlessly working towards furthering this cause.
