Here's how Dr Nene is helping improve India's life expectancy

At 958K followers on Instagram and more than a decent half of it on YouTube Dr Shriram Nene has the numbers at least to qualify for social media stardom The cardiothoracic surgeon however doesnrsquot believe in resting on laurels alone Itrsquos a great space he agrees but therersquos a lot of work to be doneThe week we speak to him Dr Nene is still reeling from the postbirthday celebration high We know this because of the photographs that have made it on his Instagram timeline Therersquos been a lot of cakecuttingmdashmodaks toomdashand his wife actress Madhuri Dixit Nene with whom he escaped into the ldquobubble of naturerdquo seems to have left no stone unturned to ensure he had a fabulous birthday week Switch to YouTube and you see the same ldquofunrdquo person but this space is where he talks businessSince October the doctor and healthcare innovator who launched his YouTube channelmdasheponymously called Dr Nenemdashhas been doling out tips for better and healthy living For someone who despite having lived under the constant gaze of the media since his marriage to Dixit in 1999 has managed to enjoy his privacy this new avatar is almost refreshing The COVID19 pandemic he feels necessitated that ldquoBefore I moved to India from the US I had given many lectures spoken at different medical societies and even published works So I was always creating new ways of doing things When I came here in 2011 my goal was to innovate in healthcare and to deliver it to more people We wanted to do that by creating something which was a combination of media technology and a smart services platform and it has taken a lot of time to get thererdquo he says in a telephonic interviewThe ldquopandemonium and panicrdquo surrounding COVID19 compelled him to act soon ldquoIt was unprecedented It was becoming more evident that people needed someone they could turn to for the common and and notsocommon stuff something that is offered in a language they could understand and is backed by good research I had been working in healthcare for so long I wanted to give everyone power to take care of themselves as well as gain awareness and have access to worldclass evidencebased medicinerdquo adds Dr Nene who has served as chief medical officer and seed investor at GoQii a wellness startup and is currently developing a medical platformDr Nene says that his wife actress Madhuri Dixit Nene with whom he shares the love for food and music is quite excited about his social media channel She also joins him in some of the videosThe videos which range anywhere between three and 20 minutes have Dr Nene share his expertise on a variety of issues especially heart disease and COVID19 Sometimes he also invites guest doctors for a discussion or has his wife Dixit take on the baton of interviewer asking him questions on particular health concernsldquoThe main theme was to start a dialogue and get people to begin talking about their own health Often at times we are so busy with our lives our children and everything around us that we forget to stay healthy I wanted to inspire people to take a breath for a moment and really love themselvesrdquo he saysRemembering his days as surgeon in Denver US he says often patients came to him ldquovery late in their diseaserdquo ldquoWhile it was rewarding when we could intervene and really make a difference I couldnrsquot turn back the clock for them The idea was that if we could empower people and raise awareness and improve access we could change the medical history of the diseaserdquoOne of his first videos interestingly was whether ordering in was safe during the pandemic ldquoMy motherinlaw is old and we couldnrsquot really take chances with food delivery but if this is a risk I wanted to find out if there was a way to do it safely So I did a bit of research talked to my friends in the medical fraternity and even experts in the food industry What we determined very quickly is that this COVID19 is not a foodborne disease and that you can safely order if one is careful while handling the packagerdquo he saysAnother topic of prime interest for Dr Nenemdashand one that is second nature to him because itrsquos also his area of expertisemdashis the heart ldquoSimple things if done in a timely fashion can save us a lot of trouble At present everyone is so afraid about going to the doctor even those complaining of chest pain My friends here and even in the US were telling me how the admissions last year were down to 30 per cent of the normal Probably we will see more people coming in in late stage of heart disease or worse yet we will see more deaths In a normal year in India alone 70 lakh people die of cardiovascular diseaseWhat I am trying to do through these videos is to gently say that these are things you have to worry aboutrdquo he says Dr Nene adds that simple lifestylechangesmdashfitness balanced diet drinking enough water and practising mindfulnessmdashcan go a long wayGenerating content he says has hardly been a challenge ldquoIf you ask my wife she will tell you how much I also love to travel I am a foodie and I love to know more about cultures I travel to places where most people donrsquot go and I stay in very humble surroundings because I want to become part of that culture Similarly with healthcare I love to read learn and understand why and how things are done I sort of have an engineering mind So for me this is kind of an adventurerdquo he says adding ldquoI also have a great team of people that works with me We have been researching all this material and brainstorming to find out what people want to know about Sometimes my social media crowd will tell me what they want to hear about next and based on that we sort of prioritise our content Some things are very khichri and other things are super deep The bottom line is that you have fun with itrdquoWhen Dr Nene came to India he had to quit a ldquoperfectly good careerrdquo as clinical surgeon and head of a hospital in the US to find a new career for himself ldquoI wonrsquot lie I loved operating There was a joy in taking care of people The reward was in seeing their smiling faces Yes it was a very tough space We were often up against a clock We had just about a millisecond to make a difference in our patientsrsquo lives It was very stressful But I had a great team and Denver was fun Yet I realised that no matter how hard I worked I could only attend to three or five patients daily I wanted to use my talents to benefit a large number of peoplerdquo he says while explaining why he made the shiftldquoComing back was refreshing My grandparents grew up in Dadar and I would come here almost every summer to spend time with them I had an affinity to this place India has 10 years lower life expectancy than the US I was looking at what we could do to change that and how we could improve liferdquo For that he says he had to lead from IndiaHis wife has been most supportive and excited about his social media channel ldquoBoth of us are grounded We donrsquot buy into the hype and noise social media can be tough but I have always kept it very positiverdquo he says That he sometimes makes special appearances on Madhuri Dixitrsquos YouTube channel where the couple cooks and sings together makes it all the more fun ldquoWe both really enjoy working together I think after 22 years we have figured that out at leastrdquo he laughs ldquoIn the lockdown in particular we learnt new skills and this was our way to communicate with people For her itrsquos tougher Because of her level of celebrity itrsquos difficult for her to be oneonone with her fans But this gives other people a window into our world and us a window into theirs Believe me itrsquos been enlightening for both of us We donrsquot see it as a chore More than anything I see on the channel people coming together launching a grassroots movement for each other Itrsquos not about me or my channel Thatrsquos what she and I representrdquo