Recent study reports show that nearly seventy percent of women beyond the age of sixty and one in five women beyond the age of forty suffer from urinary continence. Due to the lack of awareness, women tend to neglect the condition and continue to suffer in silence. A prominent figure in this area, making a difference and assisting women in their healthcare struggles is Dr. Meera Ragavan, a senior consultant obstetrician, and urogynaecologist.

In a recent interaction with Women Entrepreneur Magazine, Dr. Meera Ragavan shares more about her journey, let’s read.

What are some important features of your expertise as a healthcare practitioner?

I am an Obstetrician, Gynaecologist, and Robotic surgeon and my area of expertise is urogynaecology. I mainly specialize in urinary and bladder problems in women and I intend to achieve creating a greater level of awareness about bladder health problems, urinary tract infections, and urinary incontinence. My goal is to encourage women to come forward. I practice multidisciplinary therapies that include physiotherapy, medications, lifestyle changes, and surgical interventions if required. I am also a practicing lifestyle medicine physician, which is a specialization in allopathic medicine that incorporates lifestyle interventions like diet, nutrition, exercise, stress management, sleep hygiene, and so on. I focus on women's health empowerment. I aspire to transfer control of the care to women through necessary education, awareness, and support.

Take us through your early educational journey and the motivation to choose this path. My career started at Madras Medical College, Chennai. I was the university rank holder, and best outgoing student and won the prestigious Johnstone gold medal along with 32 other gold medals. I completed my internship in 1996 and went on to pursue my post-graduation training in obstetrics and gynaecology from PGIMER Chandigarh and did my senior residency here and at JIPMER, Pondicherry. Afterward, I migrated to the UK after passing my membership exams for the royal college and completed my consolidated specialist training by 2006. I further did my training in urogynaecology, and robotic surgery program and became a consultant from 2009 to 2012. Thereafter, I shifted back to India for personal reasons and joined Apollo Hospitals, Chennai. I have been working here since delivering niche services with the practice of urogynaecology and robotic surgery.

Furthermore, I completed my diploma in lifestyle medicine through the British society of lifestyle medicine in 2020 and had been appointed as the director of research for the Indian society of lifestyle medicine. I have also been credentialed as a menopause practitioner by the Indian menopause society. Moreover, I am an active member in many of the educational forums, a Royal college exam trainer and examiner, and a national board of examinations trainer and examiner under the specialty board. I have done my diploma in medical education from the UK and aim to pass on the baton to the next generation.

The inspirations behind my journey have been my mother, Indra Vijayaraghavan, and my professor, Dr. Alagappan, from Madras Medical College. After losing a child due to pregnancy complications, my mother always insisted I work towards the betterment of the quality of life of women. Likewise, my professor guided me to specialize in obstetrics and gynaecology to solely focus on women's healthcare issues.

What are the key challenges you face and what steps do you take to overcome the roadblocks that you encounter?

Being an active member of Apollo Hospital's telehealth team, I have been able to reach remote areas of India and help women detect health conditions and seek timely medical care. For instance, we conducted cancer screenings in the remotes of Himachal Pradesh where the rate of cervical cancer was high. By utilizing the technological advancements we were able to help tribal women and also train the nurses there. Here, the roadblocks were the lack of awareness to seek healthcare and difficulty in accessing the healthcare points.

"I focus on women's health empowerment. I aspire to transfer the control of the care to women through necessary education, awareness, and support"

Not only that, it is alarming to see the increased rate of breast cancer and many major health issues in young women. It is high time that we target the young adolescent group and help them make a difference in their lifestyle. I introduce lifestyle interventions or pharmacological interventions and help them understand the adverse effects of substances like alcohol and tobacco. A single unit of alcohol can increase the risk of breast cancer in women. I also deal with people’s denial and understanding of the problem, making it difficult to take things forward. I try to maintain good rapport with the patients and their families and work around these challenges.

What are some of the most significant milestones that you have achieved throughout your professional journey?

Apart from my medical curriculum achievements, one major milestone for me was my first robotic surgery. I performed the surgery in 2014 under the guidance of my mentor and better half, Dr. Ragavan (Uro oncologist and robotic surgeon). I am proud that we have state-of-art facilities to perform procedures with international standards in India. I also do bladder Botox injections and fistula surgeries to help patients with incontinence. It is a gratifying experience to witness the joy in patients and see women enjoy a quality of life.

How do you foresee the Indian gynaecology landscape evolving in the near future?

Indian healthcare system stands out to be better than any other when it comes to accessibility and affordability. Practitioners need to push fitnessoriented initiatives to the masses and help in spreading awareness about menstrual hygiene, bone health, cancer screening, and menopause.

What would your advice be to young women who are just starting out their careers?

Do what you love and love what you do. Consider healthcare as a promotion of well-being rather than a practice to treat diseases. Thinking ahead of time and promoting well-being will be the best gift for the coming generation. Thanks to Dr. Prathap Chandra Reddy, chairman of Apollo Hospitals, we are provided with a platform to do that.

Dr. Meera Ragavan, Senior Consultant Obstetrician & Urogynaecologist

Dr. Meera Ragavan is an obstetrician, gynaecologist, and robotic surgeon with expertise in urogynaecology. She is the university rank holder, the best outgoing student of Madras Medical College, and has won the prestigious Johnstone gold medal.