What is Achievement?

The meaning of - a sense of achievement:

"a proud feeling of having done something difficult and worthwhile"

Suburban Diagnostics, the organization?that my wife Anju and I co-founded 28 years ago, recently made a strategic sale deal with?Dr?Lal Path Labs, a listed entity and the market leader in the space of diagnostics.??

We had given this a lot of thought and found it to be a good decision, considering the timing and the future of the industry as well as our roles in shaping the future of the organisation, our team and our customers.

Initially, I was very apprehensive about how this news would be received but was pleasantly?surprised to be 'largely' congratulated for this event. This was viewed?as a huge?professional?achievement?for Anju and me. Apparently, very few pathologists have built a lab and an organisation from scratch and seen such an outcome as ours.?

While this event is a big milestone, it made me reflect on how one feels a sense of?achievement. It certainly did not feel like such a big?achievement?from my lens but just the next step I needed to take.?

When I look back, feeling this sense of achievement has really evolved through various phases of my life.

I remember when I was in class 2 in an air force school in Delhi, I was made the 'class monitor' and got awarded the 'best student' of my class, when I was hardly known or had any friends. The prize book I got at that time was the first time I experienced a sense of achievement.

During my stint in Mayo college (Ajmer), one of India's premier?residential schools, just getting selected or eligible was considered an?achievement. Even more so, given the middle-class background, we came from, affording the fees for such a school was an enormous?achievement?for my parents.?

When I felt a lack of achievement due to self-doubt:

Being a part of the sports teams, both for your 'house' and institute?was always a huge deal for me.?

While I was often part of the football, hockey, cricket and swimming teams for the house, I clearly had a chance to play for the Mayo school hockey team, if only?I had the confidence to back myself. I had even loaned my hockey stick to a friend who got selected. I sat on the sidelines to see many boys of similar or perhaps lower skill get selected but I was just not willing to push myself and give it a try. Similarly, the coach called me to try out?and practice for the school cricket team, I was in an uncomfortable zone, being part of a competitive coaching process for the first time, and did not see it through.?

I live with these regrets even today, overshadowing my academic?achievements?at times.?

We moved to Canada soon after class 7.?

Despite changing schools every 2 years, academics came easier to me.

In class 8, I did consistently well in academics, to be amongst the toppers. On the last day of school, we had a prize distribution ceremony. I went up to receive an award in a Math competition and one in sports. Towards the end of the ceremony, the principal told us about a few parents being invited, seated at the back. Instinctively, we?all turned around, for me to see my parents there. I was wondering why, but my friends told me I must have won the top student honour. Soon, my name was announced and Kathy (best girl) and myself (best boy) went up to receive?our awards. My parents were shown our grades. As is now a habit, I asked how both our grades fared, and sheepishly my mother said that Kathy had outscored me. Damn it!??

Yet,?this felt like a huge?achievement?for me. It brought me into the limelight in a new country/city/school, a new environment, and made my family very happy and proud. There was a huge surprise?party for me at home that day, and it remains a memorable day.?

Over those 2 years in Canada, I learnt to play ice hockey (I first learned to ice skate), ring (rink) hockey, and lacrosse amongst?other sports. Playing competitive ice hockey and ring hockey was a huge?achievement?since?in both cases there was recognition to go alongside. While I had huge fun pushing?myself into these new sports, our team won the ice hockey league championship and I was often appreciated for being a hard worker, while in-ring hockey I won the most improved player?accolade.?

One of my biggest?achievements?in Canada (and in life) was to improve the quality of my speech. I have/had a huge problem with stammering for which I had taken therapy while in India, but saw a huge improvement during the 2 years of speech therapy I took in Canada.?

This was only possible because my parents noticed that I needed help and ensured I got the best support possible. They not only supported me with all my aspirations and dreams but also found ways to make them so much better.?

Achievements?that improve your life skills and help you throughout life probably outscore any singular academic, sporting, art or financial?achievement.?

My heart was always set on pursuing a career in engineering and I took it up as best as I could. Yet strangely, I did not drop biology from my curriculum. All my extra classes were catered towards preparing for IIT and other engineering options. I hardly put any effort into biology, needing just enough marks to pass the subject.?

Come the day of reckoning (results), I did not qualify for IIT. I did however secure admission in one of the premier engineering colleges in Mumbai. As luck would have it, I also did well in biology and was eligible for admission in medical colleges too. While this uncommon situation of?being eligible for both medicine and engineering (most students commit to either engineering or medicine) was seen as a significant?achievement, I was cursing?my luck at missing out on IIT. So I ended up withdrawing my admission from the engineering college in Mumbai and took admission in Grant Medical College, to chart my destiny in medicine and healthcare.?

Achievements?have different?measures of success for each of us; for me, building friendships?that last a lifetime remains a huge?achievement.?

My journey through medical college was academically insignificant. I was an average student. However, my most significant?achievement?was the quality of friends that I made. Having moved schools every 2 years, I never had the opportunity of building deep friendships. This changed in medical college where I built the most amazing?friendships that continue to remain strong even after 37 years.?

It is these friends that encouraged me to take up a post-graduate program in pathology when I also had options in surgery and radiology available. This decision was indeed very significant and led to many decisions and outcomes in the future.?

After completing my MD in pathology and after moving around the globe to enhance?my knowledge, I settled on starting my own pathology?lab, just like many others before me. For the first 10 years, I learnt the entrepreneurial?aspects of running an enterprise while continuing to be the pathologist behind the microscope. The next 8 years paved the way for the future, where different?interactions with different people exposed me to many options on how I can chart the course of my enterprise.?

Nevertheless the commercial success, the one thing about my enterprise that gives me maximum satisfaction is an appreciation or a thank you from a customer or a patient. Nothing can beat this.?

Achievement is beyond just success. It is about making an impact.

I have always believed and stated that in healthcare, "no one comes to us because they want to, everyone comes to us because they have to". Acknowledging this and addressing it as best possible, so that the next time, we can convert a "has to" to a "want to" based on the level of customer experience delivered. This is an ongoing endeavour that will always need?improvements. I am happy that we have started this journey and have built our core values and principles around it.?

Pathology, and diagnostics in general, have unfortunately not been given their due, unlike some of the other branches of medicine. Pathology has always been considered a backend branch, even though over 70% of medical decision-making is dependent on diagnostics. Over the past almost 3 decades, we have tried to bring pathology and diagnostics to be at the forefront of medicine, working shoulder to shoulder with all other branches of medicine. This is immensely satisfying.?

In fact, moving forward, with the dependency?on molecular diagnostics and genomic testing and how healthcare will become more personalized with the advent of technology, diagnostics?aims to play a much more significant role than ever before. I am fortunate that we are part of this industry that can hope to make a significant impact on medical outcomes.?

One of my most significant moments came when we became amongst the first four labs in India to be approved for Covid testing in March 2020. When the entire planet was at the mercy of the coronavirus, we were given this opportunity of adding value and helping diagnose millions of people with timely covid results.?

A question I often ask is, "Why does anyone want to become a part of the healthcare industry?" For me, the thrill of impacting the health outcome of an individual outweighs?anything else. That is why, for me, significance is always linked to health outcomes, or the ability to make a difference in someone's life.?

When achievement is linked with purpose, great things can be achieved.

Today, Suburban Diagnostics has garnered a reputation?as a quality lab and diagnostics service provider, both by patients/consumers and the medical fraternity; this is immensely satisfying.?

However, there is still a lot to do.?

Building expertise in areas that can "unburden the health burden of our country" remains to be done. Ensuring Suburban Diagnostics?is not just a high-quality medical service provider but is also a great place to work, known for its commercial?acumen, is yet to be accomplished. I am sure this association with?Dr?Lal Path Labs will help complete these unfinished aspirations.?

Achievement?is not a milestone, just?a part of a journey, until something new, something more challenging appears.

Besides improving health outcomes, adding value to my family and friends, improving my game of golf and becoming a more responsible member of society keep me motivated. Sharing articles on music and health every Sunday is very satisfying. It is always a combination of small and big things that makes the sense of?achievement?worth striving for, and rewarding.?

?Just like beauty, the sense of?achievement?also lies in the eye of the beholder.?