Dr Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist at the World Health Organisation (WHO), is set to resign from her post on November 30 after a five-year stint. The 63-year-old, at two years before the WHO’s mandatory retirement age, has planned to return to India as she felt an urge to do “more hands-on practical work”.
“The main reason is that I feel an urge, after five years at the global level, to come back to more hands-on practical work in research and policy. I would like to turn all the ideas and concepts we have been promoting in the WHO into reality. I have met so many incredible people and been exposed to many good ideas and feel that I could be contributing to so many things in India,” Soumya told The Indian Express.
The scientist said these are exciting times with much interest and investment in health and there is a window of opportunity in India and in countries like India, which are taking health seriously, “to really build strong and resilient primary health systems and empower communities.” She expressed interest in being a part of the transformation.
“I have always wanted to live and work in India, and whenever I had an opportunity abroad, it has always been for a limited amount of time,” Soumya said.
Dr Soumya is a paediatrician who is globally recognised for her research on tuberculosis and HIV. Before joining the WHO as deputy director general (programmes) in 2017, she served as director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research for two years.
After the global health agency set up a science division, Soumya became the WHO’s first chief scientist starting March 2019.
The WHO played an important role after the outbreak of COVID-19, one of the most important being bringing out guidelines for the clinical management of coronavirus patients.
“This was real innovation, and every time a clinical trial reported results, we would update the guidelines so that people would know which drugs were effective,” Soumya said.
The WHO chief scientist said while India has done well in building up infrastructure, investment is going into tertiary care hospitals. What has relatively been ignored, she said, is investment in seeking treatment at outpatient clinics in the private or public sector.
“If you look at what are the factors that enable someone to live a long and healthy life, 20 per cent of it is related to the healthcare that they receive while 80 per cent is related to to risk factors of health, which are poor diet, unbalanced meals, air pollution, water, sanitation, and tobacco and alcohol as well as the risk factors of hypertension and diabetes,” she said.
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