MEDICARE: It's a big HELP

The Hindu
5th March, 2006
By Swapna Dutta

Want some information on a health-related issue? Try HELP.

For more details, contact Anirudha Malpani, Jamuna Sagar Building 5th Floor, S.BRoad, Mumbai. Ph: 022- 22151065

E-mail: helplib@vsnl.com Website: www.healthlibrary.com

I FIRST read about Aniruddha and Anjali Malpani — the two Mumbai-based young doctors who specialised in fertility treatment — when they set up the first ever sperm bank in the country in 1992. They were subsequently mentioned once again when they popularised the concept of post-operative day care by setting up their own centre.

Providing information

But their most remarkable achievement in the field of health and well-being is the establishment of the Health Education Library for People (HELP), the first consumer health education resource centre in the country. Set up in 1997, HELP aims to help the layman by providing them with the information they need to promote their health, prevent illness as far as possible and learn about any medical problem they may be already suffering from. It also enables patients to work in tandem with their doctors. As Aniruddha puts it, "We believe that Information is the best prescription!" Incidentally, HELP is a charitable trust and a non-profit organisation.

What is their objective? "There are several," says Aniruddha. "The first is to provide an up-to-date collection of material on health so that the people get all the information they are looking for. Our library helps bring about a better doctor-patient relationship as well. It is also very useful to writers and journalists who report on medical topics by giving them an in-depth knowledge. It enables patients to form self-help support groups and help one another cope with their disease. It also prevents health fraud and enables people to see through quacks by educating them medically. And finally, we hope that the well-informed patients will demand the best available treatment from their doctors, which will act as an incentive to update their skills and for hospitals to improve their facilities." Both the Malpanis feel that medical care needs to be more patient-oriented and the best way of doing this is by educating the patients.

HELP offers an up-to-date collection of over 5000 books on health and well-being, around 10,000 pamphlets, and many magazines and newsletters. They also have over 600 videotapes (which can be viewed in the library) and CD-ROMs on the varied aspects of health and treatment. There are air-conditioned reading rooms with photocopying facilities. Lastly, there's a lecture hall that can accommodate around 70 people with a projector and big screen, which is often used for talks and demonstrations.

There are complete texts of many books on health as well as magazines in their Reading Room available online which the readers can access free of cost. "We have access to every medical topic under the sun," says Aniruddha, adding, "they are all explained in a language which a layperson can understand." In a nutshell, it is a modern digital library. Their website (http://www.healthlibrary.com) is an important health portal in India which receives over half a million visits every month from all over the world. What is most important, HELP is a free site so any one can access it whenever they feel the need to do so.

Help is open six days a week from 10.00 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. "What about people who are not able to come personally?" I enquired. "We answer their questions by post or e-mail," replied Aniruddha, "In fact, we have a special service for this very purpose called MISS-HELP (Medical Information Search Service from HELP). It makes it possible for us to provide medical information to users everywhere." But that is not all. The Malpanis also provide free Internet training courses for doctors. And they offer doctors in India access to the world's largest online medical library, at www.mdconsult.com.

© Copyright 2000 - 2006 The Hindu

HELP is a one-of-its-kind free consumer health library in Mumbai with nearly 10,000 books, pamphlets, newsletters and brochures.

Read the full article

Building a bond

Times Wellness
11th January, 2004

If the relationship you share with the medical fraternity in general and your doctor in particular is less than ideal, a seminar to be held in Mumbai on January 19 should be of interest.

Sponsored by Lupin Laboratories and organised by the Health Education Library for People (HELP), it will focus on the problems of modern medical practice, a far cry from the days when family doctors took care of everyone from the cradle to the grave. However, as medical science has advanced rapidly, it has become impossible for a single doctor to provide comprehensive care. Specialists are required to provide guidance and expert help, and the more complex the problem, the more important it becomes to get a second opinion.

Everyone would like his or her doctor to treat each patient as a special individual and not just another case. Unfortunately, this kind of rapport is seldom established, as doctors and patients struggle with the increased commercialisation of a profession that was once regarded as the next best things to godhead. But at the least, both sides can work towards a beneficial relationship based on mutual respect.

At Times Wellness, the subject of the doctor-patient relationship is one that intrigues and concerns, hence we are pleased to be associated with the event as a bridge between doctors and patients in the process of establishing both dialogue and self-examination. For it is true that while a doctor can wound with his manner or seeming indifference, it is equally true that some patients can ruin a doctor's day by asking too many or irrelevant questions, challenging every decision and generally active negative. Among the issues to be addressed at the seminar are how to talk to your doctor so he will talk to you, how to create a healthy relationship, prescribing information to improve medical care and using technology to improve doctor-patient communication.

A book, Successful Private Practice: Winning Strategies for Doctors by Drs Aniruddha and Anjali Malpani, will be released at the seminar. This is a complement to their earlier book, How to Get the Best Medical Care - a Guide for the Intelligent Patient.

Talking HELPS: Experts

DTP Team
Downtown Plus
28th February, 2003

Help Talks, run by the Health Education Library for People at Kemps Corner, has gained entry into the Limca Book of Records 2003 edition for the longest running series of talks on health awareness in the country.

HELP Talks is a part of the free public service of HELP or Health Education Library for People, where eminent professionals and doctors deliver talks on a wide range of health-related topics.

To date, 69 health talks have been held over a period of three and a half years. These talks are aimed at making Mumbai's citizen's savvy patients by empowering them with authentic health information provided by leading authorities of different medical specialities, says the medical information manager of HELP, Dr Hufrish Suraliwala.

Dr Suraliwala has been organising free health-related talks on the first and third Saturdays of every month, since 1999 at Om Chambers, fifth floor, Kemps Corner.

The first session of HELP Talk was held on June 19, 1999, where oncologist Dr Vijay Haribhakti spoke on Everything you wanted to know about cancer and did not know whom to ask. Since then, eminent doctors and health professionals from all fields of medicine have delivered talks on every aspect of health, right from cancer to cosmetology, states the Limca word of praise. HELP Talks are free and a part of public service. Slides and videos are shown during these talks and free pamphlets are distributed.

"These talks were started in June 1999 with a modest attendance of 16-20 people initially, but with time, popularity and attendance increased tremendously. These talks are known among masses for bringing in medical experts of high credibility," says Dr Suraliwala.

Mickey Mehta, one the regular holistic health speakers and a consultant to HELP, believes: "A holistic natural approach is where nothing is disregarded, and the focus is not fragmented on an ailment or disease or symptom, but instead focussed on the wellness in totality. It deals with the organic unity of the body and not just cure, but the growth of the health fountain within."

"I think it is a brilliant concept to let people know about health-related subjects. Creating physical and behavioural awareness is an urgent need today," says Dr Rakesh Sinha, the pioneer of gynaecological endoscopy in India and a motivational expert. Dr Sinha has spoken in the past at HELP on Change Your Attitude for Better Health.

Other eminent doctors and health professionals like Dr R K Anand, Dr Prakash Kothari, Dr Rani Raote, Dr Kirit Mody, Dr Rajesh Parikh, Dr Anjali Mukherjee, Dr Ashit and Rekha Sheth, Zubin Zarthosthimanesh, Nawaz Modi Singhania, have been a part of a galaxy of speakers involved with HELP

Just Talking

Georgina L Maddox
Indian Express
25th February, 2003

"Can you give a talk on sex education for adolescents and how their parents should cope with their growing pains?"

"Please arrange for more talks on diabetes!"

"Talks on stress management, arthritis, heart ailment, skin problemscan we have more?"

"What are the effects of Vipassana?"

"Talk on hypertension please."

These are some of the requests that eager participants have filled in on their response forms at the Health Education Library for People (HELP) talks, organised by the library at Kemp's Corner. The best part: It's free of cost!

What started with 16 people, in the basement of the Malpani Day Care Surgery Centre, has now grown to a following of over 80, some of whom are regulars.

Also, 69 talks down the line, the lady who started it all, Hufrish Suraliwala, a practising dentist, has found HELP in the LIMCA Book of World Records, for the longest running series of talks on health awareness. Not that the Limca Book is a totally new area for Suraliwala since she is a consultant to its medical sciences section. But to have organised the most talks to ever take placethat's no mean feat.

"After I joined fertility specialists Aniruddha and Anjali Malpani at HELP in 1999, I decided to start the talks on various health issues by other experts too. The intention was to generate awareness about health issues for the common man," says Suraliwala. The 'common man' by HELP's definition usually falls in the upper middle-class bracket. And since all the talks are held in English, it rules out people who don't speak the language.

While the HELP library has a modest vernacular section, Suraliwala admits that this is one area that HELP Talks need to look into, considering that people who have the least access to information on health issues do not speak or understand English.

However, the emphasis is on quality. "We hand-pick our speakers, selecting those who are the most prominent in their field of expertise. Recently we had Micky Mehta, the holistic health exponent, conducting a talk. He's so popular that we had to invite him for the third time to a talk," says Suraliwala.

Others who have held their own on the dais are leading paediatrician R K Anand on breast feeding, ophthalmologist Kirit Mody and holistic healer John Rogerson, to name a few. Interestingly, Suraliwala has held several talks on her field of expertise, cosmetic dentistry, at the International Medical Conference.

Help in on the way

Lalitha Suhasini
Indian Express
2nd April, 2002

No more futile searches on the Internet when you need to be better informed about a disease. This also spells the end of miscommunication, when the patient grapples with the medical jargon that a specialist might use during consultation. HELP (Health Education Library for People) offers information therapy - a pack age of customised information pertaining to a specific medical problem.

The easy accessibility of this service is a big advantage to its users. HELP would first need a report from the users on their diseases, duration of the illnesses, treatment received, additional problems and issues that need clarification, before the package is compiled. Stresses Dr Hufrish Suraliwala, HELP's Medical Information Manager who compiles the 60-page information package, "This effort is not to bypass a doctor, but to transform readers into health savvy consumers."

The brainchild of Dr Aniruddha and Anjali Malpani, the package provides facts on diagnosis, treatment - both conventional and alternative - recent breakthroughs for the ailment, apart from useful online resources and support groups. Another advantage for consumers is that the package is targeted towards laymen and is devoid of medical jargon.

"The information therapy is a great idea. It saves time and effort for both doctors and patients, since it builds the patients' awareness levels," says Dr Vijay Sharma, cosmetic surgeon at the Malpani Day Care Surgery. But other issues raised pertain to the extensive research involved in each section of health and the negligible percentage of patients who make use of information programmes such as this. "Though HELP's idea is good, it sounds like a colossal task since there is so much information available," says Dr Rishma Dhillon Pai, gynaecologist at Jaslok Hospital. Dr Pai opines that a generalised package on age-specific ailments for the 40 plus group, childbearing age groups or even adolescents in regional languages might reach out to a wider audience.

Argues Dr Kirit Mody, ophthalmologist at Lilavati, Kothari and Somaiya Medical College and Hospitals, "One out of 10 people wants to know about the disease, so I don't really think that this package is aimed at the masses." But Sharma justifies that awareness and accessibility go hand in hand and only when the information is made available, will its use increase. Agrees Dr R K Anand, Head of the Paediatric Department at Jaslok Hospital, "There are two types of doctors - one that listens and encourages patient interaction and the other that lacks both communication skills and information. So this therapy is beneficial, provided the patient shares the information with the doctor." No advice is greater than one received from your medical practitioner and HELP's endeavour is a support system to build the rapport between the doctor and the patient. Priced at Rs 500 and commencing on World Health Day (April 7), the package will be delivered within eight days of placing the order.

HELP at hand

Sonali Velinkar
Mid-day (The List)
19th March, 2001

Three years ago a hastily written 'HELP' sign, on a piece of paper in a window at Om Chambers at Kemps Corner, had a concerned citizen approaching the police to look into the matter. The policeman was given a tour of the fifth floor of the building and as it turned out, there was nothing amiss, quite the contrary.

The building is home to the Health Education Library for People (HELP), a non-profit organisation run by the Community Health Research Programme and founded by the doctor couple Aniruddha and Anjali Malpani. Tucked away at the far end of a day care surgery, HELP is the only health education resource centre of its kind in India.

Set up in May 1995, as the Health Education Library for Patients, it had a modest collection of 1,000 books. Now, the library's shelves are packed to capacity: with 7,500 consumer health books, 11,000 pamphlets and 300 magazines and newsletters, besides over 500 health-related video tapes and facilities to use the Internet. The library has no entrance or membership fee, and only nominal fees for photocopying and accessing special medical databases on the net. It organises 'HELP Talks' by medical and fitness professionals (in the past they've had Dr Rani Raote, Nawaz Modi, Dr Shahrukh Golwalla, Mickey Mehta and Zubin Zarthostimanesh, among others) every first and third Saturday of the month at 1 pm. Yet, Dr Hufrish Suraliwala, who manages the library, tells us that only 10 to 15 people a day on an average and about 25 people on days when lectures are held, visit the place. "It's strange how patients will spend two hours waiting for a doctor and still have so many unanswered questions, but won't come by a library like this," adds Malpani.

Doesn't the intriguing 'HELP' sign in the window help in drawing folks to the library? "I wish people were puzzled enough to come by, but that's rare, says Malpani. The sign has now evolved from its earlier avatar on paper to a neon sign that draws considerable attention at night. "It's interesting, the reaction the sign evokes," says Malpani, "but it isn't a gimmick. The building has a signage problem, with no place to put up a board outside." With insufficient funds, it wasn't possible to put up a hoarding, so the library was 'advertised' in the only place possible - the window space of the day care surgery. So why a 'HELP' sign that sheds no light on 'what' is up there and no mention of a library? The answer, as the doctor puts it, is simple: "How do you fit a sign that reads 'Health Education Library for People' into a single window?"

The HELP Library How to find more information about your health problem

Bombay Times
26th June, 2000

How often have you left your doctor's clinic feeling dissatisfied because he did not spend enough time answering your questions?

How often have you found yourself wishing your doctor would talk in a language you could understand?

Have you wondered where you could find more information about the medicines he has prescribed for you?

Do you wish to get a second opinion about the surgery he has suggested?

Our health is the most valuable possession we have - yet it's the one we often neglect. Part of this is because we do not have access to information we can understand easily, so that most of us are confused about what the best treatment for our health problem is.

However, you cannot afford to leave everything to God - or to the doctor! You need to become an expert about your health - your body is too important for you to accept second-best medical treatment.

Today, HELP can help you to get the best medical care. HELP - the Health Education Library for People - is India's first Health Education Resource Centre, and is the world's largest health library, as determined by the Medical Library Association, USA. This was established in 1997 to empower people by providing them with the information they need to promote their health, and prevent and treat medical problems in the family in partnership with their doctor. HELP is a registered charitable trust and a non-profit organisation.

HELP offers the following facilities:

1. Airconditioned reading rooms, with a seating capacity for 20-25 persons.
2. An up-to-date collection of over 6,000 health books, 10,000 pamphlets, and many magazines and newsletters.
3. Audiovisual educational media, including over 600 video tapes. Videos can be viewed in the privacy of the library.
4. Computer software, including over 30 CD-ROMs, on all health and medical topics.
5. Photocopying facilities at Re 1 per page.

HELP has access to information on every health and medical topic under the sun - explained in terms which the lay person can understand. It also offers librarian-mediated internet and medline searches, so that it can provide information on the latest medical research form all over the world.

HELP has become a prototype of the modern digital library. Its website at http://www.healthlibrary.com is India's leading health portal, and receives over half a million hits per month. It has many full-text health books and magazines in its reading room on the web, so that people can read them free. This allows HELP to extend its outreach services by providing consumer health information to internet users from all over the world.

HELP has books which deal with any illness - from cancer to the common cold. It has over 200 books on alternative medicine, covering pranic healing, reiki, homeopathy, colour therapy, gem therapy, magnet therapy and even urine therapy; plus many books on exercise, diet, nutrition, pregnancy and childcare. In fact, there is no medical problem it does not have information on - right from allergies, autism, Alzheimer's and AIDS, to dyslexia, TB and zoonoses. All its books are written for patients, so that they are easy to understand - and since they are written by leading medical experts, they are reliable and trustworthy - a book will not lie to you! You can browse through its computerised catalog online at the HELP website, http://www.healthlibrary.com

HELP's most popular books include: Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide, The Women's Complete Healthbook by the American Medical Women's Association, The New McMillan Guide to Family Health; Informed Decisions by the American Cancer Society; Children's Symptoms by the British Medical Association; The Merck Manual of Medical Information - Home Edition and Everything You Need To Know About Medical Tests. Popular CD-ROMs include: Web Doctor; Medical Encyclopedia For Health; Physician's Home Assistant; and Mayo Clinic Family Health. HELP's most frequently viewed videos include: High Blood Pressure, Heart Surgery, The Miracle of Life, Birth: a family experience, Headaches, Birth & Recovery, Infertility, Prostate Trouble and Depression. The most commonly referred to magazines and newsletters include: American Health, Mothering, Mayo Clinic Health Letter, Consumer Reports on Health, Living with Diabetes, Epilepsy USA and Harvard Medical School Newsletter.

HELP is a public library - everyone is welcome. Entry to HELP is free. While it does not lend books, it does have a photocopying machine in the library. It also sells duplicate copies of its health books at half price.

HELP is open Monday through Saturday, from 10 am to 6:30 pm. For those unable to come personally to the library, it also answers questions by post. This service is called MISS-HELP (Medical Information Search Services from HELP) which allows it to provide medical information to users from all over the city.

What are HELP's goals?

1. To create and provide access to a reliable and up-to-date collection of consumer health material, so that people can become better informed about their own health. HELP believes that the best prescription is knowledge.

2. To encourage a healthy doctor-patient relationship, since the best patient is a well-informed one.

3. To provide resources which doctors can adapt to their own practice, to use for educating their patients.

4. To be a useful resource for writers and journalists, and thus improve the quality and accuracy of reporting of medical topics in the lay press.

5. To act as a stimulus for patients with a particular disease to get together and form self-help support groups, to help each other cope with their disease.

6. To prevent health fraud and quackery by educating the consumer about health and illness.

7. Ultimately, HELP hopes that well-informed patients will demand the best treatment available internationally - and that this will act as an incentive for doctors to update their skills, and for hospitals to improve their facilities.

HELP also organises "Help for your Health" lectures on the first and third Saturday of every month. These are free lectures, on topics ranging from breast feeding to cancer to yoga to magnet therapy.

HELP also provides free internet training courses for doctors to help them learn to use the internet. We feel the internet will change the way medical care is provided in the future, and our free training courses help doctors to learn this new tool to help them improve the care they provide to their patients. HELP also offers doctors access to the world's largest online medical library, at www.mdconsult.com, to help them to keep up-to-date. We can also obtain the full-text of any article from any medical journal in the world - a service which can be life-saving for patients with rare or complex diseases.

HELP is run by the Community Health Research Programme, a registered charitable trust (Trust Regd E15863 (Mumbai) dated 18 Aug 1995 with the Charity Commissioner, Greater Bombay, Maharashtra State).

Donations made to HELP are exempted from Income Tax under Section 80G.

We invite you to come and visit HELP.

Lending a HELPing hand

Gerson da Cunha
Bombay Times
22nd January, 2001

Call on HELP for better health When you call 3683334, you reach the Health Education Library for People (HELP), at Kemps Corner. This is an extraordinary (and free) service of information about health yours', your family's, everyone's. Visit it, don't just telephone. It is the only centre of its kind in India. It exemplifies a lot about this city. It is surprising. It is generous. It is quick, competent and state-of-the-art. Because it is about health not just sickness, it is also about getting the most out of life.

20,000 products in print
What does the pain in the lower back, or just above the eyebrows or down the left leg mean? Do I have straightforward tummy trouble or an early sign of something more serious? HELP has answers. Can I really analyse my own symptoms? HELP has 20 dictionaries of symptoms. What is Alternative Medicine, and does it work? The library offers a comprehensive book on the subject, with a foreword by Deepak Chopra, for good measure, to say nothing of works on Holistic Medicine and Chinese Natural Cures. HELP has something like 7,500 books for lay folk, 11,000 pamphlets, 300 magazines and newsletters, and guidance from trained librarians. You will find works like The 100 worst pills and the 100 best. Take this book to the hospital, which is about what you need there and, for a change of pace. A collection in Hindi and Marathi is being built up. You can get information audiovisually from any of over 600 videotapes.

It's about being a good doctor
Aniruddha and Anjali Malpani are the force behind the idea and the institution. What set them off? Well, I'm from a family of doctors, he says, and my wife and I have kept the faith. He was a gynaecologist. But they are now leading infertility specialists. That still does not explain HELP. How does it all add up? It doesn't, in that sense, says Aniruddha. But we grew up wanting to emulate the highest standards of our seniors and add to them, if possible, to leave something behind. It's about being a good doctor. Information is the best prescription, he believes. Well prepared patients make the most of their time with the doctor, they understand diagnoses better and follow treatment intelligently. Homework of this kind is empowerment. You have realistic expectations of your doctor. You don't leave everything to him. You protect yourself, for instance, from instance, from unnecessary tests and medication, therefore from avoidable bills. HELP could never replace the doctor. It tries to set up as productive a relationship as possible between patient and doctor at a time when standards are declining sharply. The Malpanis believe that medical practice has to become patient-centred and the patient protected from fraud and quackery.

Lectures and the Internet.
HELP premises become the location for talks and discussions every first and third Saturday of the month. On January 20 is a discourse by Dr Thompson Streever and Prof John Rogerson on Holistic Medicine in the 21st century and on February 17 Dr Vijay Kulkarni will speak on Male Infertility, both talks between 1 pm and 2 pm.

HELP makes extensive use of computer technology to make the library user friendly. Medical practitioners themselves could not be forgotten. For a fee, MD Consult provides doctors the 35 bibles of medicine on line, in extenso, not as abstracts, also full texts of 25 major journals and on line Clinics of North America. PaperChase helps the doctor search four top data bases at the same time, automatically.

Ultimately, says Aniruddha, we hope that well informed patients will demand the best standards of treatment available not just here but internationally. Hopefully this will act as an incentive for doctors to update their skills and for hospitals to improve their facilities. In How to get the best medical care, their second book together, the Malpanis suggest that if you want VIP medical care, you need to be a VIP (a very well-informed patient).

New health library in city

Sudheendra Tripathi
Blitz on Sunday
13th February, 2000

Mumbai: Health can no longer be taken for granted. With an increasing number of people succumbing to stress related problems, health as a subject has acquired tremendous importance, Dr Aniruddha Malpani, a fertility specialist, has started a venture Health Education Library for People, the largest health library in the world.

This one of its kind library in the country was started in May 1996 to create awareness among people on health as a subject.

The library, started with just 1000 books, has now become an extensive health library with over 7,000 books, 11,000 pamphlets, 600 video tapes, 60 CD roms, 30 medical kits and over 600 health magazines. If all this is not enough, members can even surf the Net for a health update, for a nominal price.

Getting a membership is not difficult. You can just walk into the library, pick a book and gather all the information you want. Those interested in accumulating health-related information on any topic can just walk in without bothering about membership fees. The rules are not the same for everyone. Institutions are charged a nominal fee. The library is not at all strict as far as sharing information is concerned. Open from 10 am to 6.45 pm, the librarian is strict about timings.

Books pertaining to general health, mental health, sports, diet and nutrition, skin care, hair, sexuality etc., can be found in abundance. You are not allowed to take any of the books until half the price of the book is paid as deposit. When you want to be a member you pay 10 per cent of the cost of the book, which is already discounted by a whopping 50 per cent as readership charges. There is also provision for members of the library to purchase the books. The members can buy these books from the sales department, at half the rates.

Speaking to Blitz on Sunday, Dr Hufrish Suraliwala, a regular patron said, "All the books are upgraded periodically. We make it a point to see that all our members have updated information on health related topics." The library is patronised by students, journalists, senior citizens and also doctors.