The Role and Importance of Doctors in Our Lives was Never Valued More Than Now

By Dr. Kasu Prasad Reddy – Chief Surgeon and Founder – MaxiVision Super Specialty Eye Hospitals, Hyderabad.

First and foremost ley us remember the heroes of our country, the soldiers who lost their lives while doctoring to protect all of us from the enemy. 

Then some heroes don’t wear capes, we call them doctors. This anonymous one-liner has never been more true that it is today. We have all witnessed it at some point or the other during these past few months across television screens, in the news and elsewhere. I am 71 with high risk but working from day one for emergencies and from 1st May for selective because the primary duty of a doctor is to serve and this is the time when we are most needed. 

The role and importance of Doctors in our lives have never been valued more than during the current Pandemic. Though Doctors have always played a significant role in the lives of individuals and society as a whole the current scenario has bought the significance of their role

to the forefront. Like a soldier during wartime, doctors have gone beyond the call of duty working non-stop to save lives risking their own, especially our government doctors. 

In these difficult times, doctors have not given up in spite of many incidents being reported of

doctors being attacked by patients. Adding to their difficulties are also reports that some state governments are not being able to pay salaries. Some doctors have not gone home for several days. So far over 32 doctors have died of COVID 19.

Their contribution to human health is beyond comparison as Doctors not only save lives they also make a difference by helping patients alleviate pain, recover from a disease quicker and help improve the quality of life of a patient. A patient's ability to lead a good life, even if they can't be cured, makes a huge difference to them and to their families.

A doctor uses his extensive knowledge and applies the same to identify a medical problem faced by a patient and then uses his or her skills to cure it. During times like today where a contagious disease is threatening to claim almost an entire population across the globe not just a few hundred people. Timely measures and awareness by doctors is helping curb and contain this catastrophic situation from of going beyond control.

Like never before as a nation, we need to rise for this special occasion of Doctor’s Day, to show that we are proud of the talented medical professionals we have in our country. Recognizing the fact that doctor and their nurses and other medical personnel today are dealing with medical emergencies that neither India nor the world has ever witnessed.

About Doctors day: To pay our tributes to doctors in India, Doctor’s day is celebrated on 1st July every year. This date coincides with both the birth and death anniversary of Dr. B. C. Roy. It reminds us of the special contribution made by this legendary physician, who treated thousands and inspired millions of lives, including the life of Mahatma Gandhi.

Can TCS earn $1 bn revenue from domestic market?

Country's top software exporter Tata Consultancy Services said that it aims to double its revenues from the Indian market to $1 billion in the next 3-4 years.

"India has been one of the important markets. We are looking at whether in next 3-4 years we can double our revenue to billion dollars in the Indian market," TCS CEO S Ramadorai said.

At present, the domestic market contributes 10 per cent to the total revenue.

"Every mission mode project (government) that would come on the radar, we will certainly bid for them. TCS is in talks for 3-4 such mission mode projects as of now," Ramadorai said.

"When we look at the domestic market we look at three pillars -- large enterprises, governments - both the central and state governments -- and the third is the small and medium businesses which are part of our overall growth," he added.

Of the three, he expects the large enterprises to contribute more than the other two, followed by the government and the SMB sector.

Agencies

Is Citigroup looking at new ways to pay employees?

Citigroup may put more employees on commission or offer them larger base salaries as it tries to retain key staffers without running afoul of laws limiting executive pay at banks that receive government funds.

Three people familiar with the matter said the bank has examined a series of possible moves, including special stock-based bonuses, or offering employees a percentage of their group's revenue.

Banks across Wall Street are struggling to reward top performers without violating an amendment to the 2009 stimulus package limiting executive pay. That amendment calls for the Treasury Secetary to review compensation of top employees at any major recipient of funds from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Bonuses are expected to face particular scrutiny after Wall Street firms paid $18.4 billion of bonuses in 2008, a year in which the U.S. financial sector required more than $1 trillion of government support.

Some banks, most notably Goldman Sachs Group Inc, hope to repay their TARP funds as soon as possible, in part to avoid having to comply with pay limits.

Citigroup, which has received $45 billion of TARP capital and is not believed to have much hope of paying the government back anytime soon, is having discussions with the government about measures that might be appropriate for retaining revenue producing employees.

A number of possibilities are under discussion, and generally are geared toward ensuring that employees are motivated to perform well. The No. 3 U.S. bank will have a better sense of how to proceed once the Treasury Department crafts more specific guidelines on pay, one person said.

Of particular concern is the Phibro business, which has been extraordinarily profitable. If Citigroup cannot find ways to compensate people there, the energy trading business may be spun off, sold, or opened to outside investors, a person familiar with the matter said. News of this possibility was first reported in the Wall Street Journal.

The Wall Street Journal also reported that Citigroup had asked the Treasury Department for permission to pay special bonuses to key employees.
One scenario discussed internally would be a one-time bonus paid to employees mainly in stock that would vest over at least three years.

Citigroup spokesman Stephen Cohen said in an emailed statement that the bank has not presented Treasury with any specific plan for staff retention or special cash payouts.

"Citi continues to examine ways to ensure its employee compensation practices are competitive in this very challenging market environment," Cohen said in the statement.

The alternatives that Citigroup is considering to standard discretionary bonuses still have flaws with them, experts said.

Commissions, for example, only work well for professionals in sales positions, and even then can lead to conflicts over which sales person was responsible for a deal. Giving percentages of revenue could result in outsized paydays
if a business outperforms, which could lead to public outcry.

"There's no perfect answer to this issue," said Michael Holland, founder of Holland & Co, which oversees more than $4 billion.

STEMMING THE EXODUS

But banks have every incentive to figure out how to retain their top staff. On Monday, a source said two equity traders and a salesman from Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) moved to hedge fund giant Citadel Investment Group. Foreign banks such as Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) have also been able to hire employees from U.S. competitors.

In fact, banks that are not profitable will likely have trouble from a political standpoint paying employees anything but stock in bonuses, while banks that are profitable will likely look to repay TARP as quickly as possible to eliminate restrictions they face.

"I just don't think all this planning for other ways to pay people will amount to anything," said Paul Sorbera, a recruiter at Alliance Consulting in New York.

But for now, banks are concerned about retaining staff, and ensuring they are properly motivated.

"If we can't pay people competitively, we can't expect them to stay here," said one bank executive.

Agencies

Vishal Info likely to buy firms in Europe

Mid-sized IT-enabled services and solutions providing company Vishal Information Technologies (VITL) is close to buying out two companies. Chennai-based VITL, a Rs 400-crore company, is looking at the inorganic route to expand its presence in international markets.

The company is in talks with two companies — one of them is a player in data digitisation and conversion/e-publishing company, while the other is a fund accounting/financial KPO company. This seems to be in synergy with own businesses. In order to fund these acquisitions, the company has recently issued global depository receipts (GDR) worth $30 million. This has been listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. Six new equity shares will be issued on the conversion of each GDR.

Dilip Parekh, executive director, VITL, told ET that the company has identified a couple of companies in the UK and Sweden for possible buyouts. According to him, VITL was at an advanced stage of closing the deal. “We will be looking at two acquisitions with one having a size of $20-25 million and another will be $10-15 million.”

While this will be partly funded by the money raised through GDR, the balance will be through a share swap ratio. “The company will issue fresh shares to the target company, apart from the funds raised through GDR for the acquisition,” he said.

Founded in 2000, VITL is a subsidiary of Tutis Technologies, which specialises in biometric products, software development and consulting. VITL is a service provider to government and semi-government organisations, large and medium-sized companies, NGOs, universities, publishing houses and legal entities.

It focuses in the areas of providing solutions for the print production industry with services like e-publishing, e-book, print on demand, data and document management, data conversion, digital library management among others. It also has a subsidiary, Basiz, which is a fund accounting service KPO primarily focusing on servicing hedge funds, mutual funds, private equity firms among others.

Economictimes