INTERVIEW: DR. NAVIN SHAH

Dr. Navin Shah

Dr. Navin Shah is a well-known and extremely respected name in the medical field. Based in Maryland, he specializes in Urology, has been actively involved in the international medical graduates community and has played a major role in improving the quality of healthcare in India. He is the Medical Education Director at the Metropolitan Urologic Institute, Treasurer at the Mid-Atlantic Urology Association, is the founder and past president of The American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), the past president of the Medical Staff at Doctors Community Hospital, former trustee of the Maryland State Medical Society and the past president of the American College of International Physicians. He has received numerous awards including the Outstanding Physician Award by American College of International Physicians and the Persons of the Year Award from India Abroad. Here, Dr. Shah talks about how he got into the medical profession, the recent U.S. Ayurveda Delegation Trip to India and various projects he has been working on.

You studied Medicine at the University of Pune and then later trained in Urology at the Washington Hospital Center in DC. Did you always know you wanted to get into the medical field?
When I came to America I was a general surgeon and I wanted to specialize in urology and they did not have specialty in urology in India neither as a practitioner nor as training. Since elementary school I wanted to become a doctor because we had a great friend in our family physician. He always inspired me to become a doctor and help people because I saw he was very kind with children and my parents and patients. He was a really nice guy. Since then I always wanted to be a doctor.

You were recently part of the U.S. Ayurveda Delegation Trip to India, which is quite a historical event. How’d that happen?
The former Prime Minister, Mr. Vajpayee asked me to promote Ayurveda in the United States. A little history—I founded AAPI and I’m a past president of AAPI, too. Our idea on forming AAPI was to look after our physicians in America and also to improve medical education and the healthcare field in India. And, since 1980s I was involved and still involved with multiple projects related to education and patient care. For example, I just introduced an infectious disease specialty in India—a 3 year post M.B.B.S. course. India didn’t have any infectious disease specialty. In India there are 50 million patients of infectious disease and 48% deaths are due to infectious disease yet there was no specialty. So I met with the Prime Minister and Health Minister and Medical Council of India. What I do is I take what is best in America and I modify it and take it to India. So in infectious disease what I did is I joined hands with the American board of internal medicines and subsection of ID and got two Indian ID experts with me—Dr. Akshay Shah and Dr. Indira Brar—and I worked with the Medical Council and the PM’s office and the PM himself. It took three years and this year it will start, the three years specialty course in infectious disease. I’ve done multiple projects in India. So, coming back to Vajpayee, I’ve met with every Prime Minister since Mrs. Gandhi and I also met with Vajpayee and he told me to promote Ayurveda in the U.S. and I said, “Sir, you are talking to the wrong person,” because I have no knowledge of Ayurveda other than what every Indian knows because we are in India and it’s part of our growing up. But, I was never trained in Ayurveda so I said you’ll have to find someone else and he said no, you have to do it. So, when I came here I studied Ayurveda and I found out one very important thing—American people spend $40 billion per year on herbal medicines, products and services out of their own pocket and I could not believe it because half of the herbal medicines are useless! Also, after I read this I became very intrigued and also wanted to know more so I said why not we get two professors and conduct courses in four-five medical schools here. So, two years ago I brought Dr. Palep—Government of India sent him at their own cost and I sort of sustained the local cost with our AAPI. In the lecture I realized that in eight hours you can’t do justice to Ayurveda, on the contrary you confuse people and the course didn’t attract as much gravity as we wanted. So I met with the American Association of Medical Colleges and I told them this is what I want to do and how do I do it? I met with Vice Presidents of AAMC and they suggested we focus on four-five diseases and four-five herbs. So, I wrote to the government of India and met with Prime Minister Singh and I got in touch with six U.S. medical college professors who are in charge of complementary alternative medicine. In America, since the last ten years, more so in the last five years, complementary alternative medicine has become a part of the education, training and health care process—like acupuncture is reimbursed by insurance payers. The government of India asked me to lead a delegation of US CAM Directors to India. The idea was to explain Ayurveda in its entirety—teaching, practice and manufacturing of drugs. I wanted that they also show us evidence basis—like if they say we can cure high blood pressure then show us 100 cases where you have given the drug and the results and followup visits. I requested government of India to call their Ayurveda experts and 60 experts from all over India were invited. I met with head of the NIH (NCAM) and they were very enthused about my idea. They said they will work with me on joint Indo-US research provided that it is up to the mark of NIH standards. Like we have one partner in India and one partner in the U.S. and we take the same study design, drugs and disease and see if there is some evidence base to show the American medical community of Ayurveda benefits.

Like you mentioned, within the past five years various forms of complementary alternative medicine have gained popularity in the United States…Why do you think this has happened suddenly?
Our allopathic medicines have become very costly and have lots of side effects and America is a land of many cultures—there are people from 180 different countries with their own herbal traditions and procedures. And Americans feel that herbs are always safe so that’s good. So that’s how it came about.

You’ve given back a lot to India and have improved the medical system there. Tell us a bit about what you’re currently working on.
I have finalized an emergency medical system in Mumbai and met with the Chief Secretary of Maharashtra government and Health Secretary. The American College of Surgeons have a trauma director and he gave me a full scholarship to bring one Indian surgeon here to train for one week. And we have ten American trauma surgeons who are ready to go there on their own cost and train surgeons in Mumbai because trauma is a very specialized branch. We have joined 24 hospitals together and I’m working to streamline the whole process there and make a model in Mumbai so that other cities of India can replicate. I’ve also been working on getting a system of accreditation for hospitals in India because they are not accredited in India. Here in the U.S. we have checks and balances and every three years hospitals get checked out or they can come at any time of day and check the hospitals, so it is a serious business here. But for some reason I haven’t been able to get the government of India to do this. 

You’ve also been very involved in the medical community in the U.S., whether it be founding the American Professional Exchange Association or serving as the founder and former president of AAPI. How do you juggle so much?
I keep hours aside every day for the last 20 years to do these things. I enjoy it and I do it at my own cost, with the exception of the last trip which the government of India paid for all seven delegates because they invited us. A lot can be done in India. In some parts of India people cannot afford modern medicine and there are not even modern medical facilities. In some places some accident patients die on the streets because there are no modern facilities there. There are lots of extreme cases there. So, I keep aside hours and I’m a lucky man because I have contacts and access to the officials and ministers.

How do you feel about brain drain in India?
A lot of excellent doctors go abroad to work. Brain drain is not a concern. In India there are a large number of physicians and lots of medical schools. But a lot needs to be done there. In India there is no insurance like there is here and cash flows over the table, under the table…there is no peer review, hospital accreditation or compulsory continuing medical education like here in the U.S. Here we keep up with the state of the arts and have to have our license renewed. But in India once you are a doctor you are a doctor for life. So I want there to be accountability for all doctors and hospitals because that will improve the quality of health care in India.

Anything else you’d like to add to the interview, Dr. Shah?
I have started a physician exchange program. It’s a reciprocal program in the form of a voluntary exchange visit by doctors in U.S. and doctors in India. A doctor from India who comes here on his own cost and the American host will take care of the lodging and boarding and show them how the U.S. practice and research is done. And the American doctors are willing to go to India at their own cost to help and train the doctors in India. And, it’s taken care of through the Web site. It’s a volunteer arrangement, which keeps the government out of the picture. It can help create a long-term relationship. For example, my son Amit is an emergency room doctor at Washington Hospital Center where I trained and where he was born… and he is the member of the second generation. So, if it goes well, the second generation will hopefully be committed to contributing to motherland India. If this gets off to a right start it could lead to a voluntary service even for the second generation and that too without government hassle.

[ BY AMANDA SODHI ]