Life | Parent Empowerment

October, 2004

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Parent Empowerment

Photographs by Preeti Singh

Published: Volume 12, September-October 2004

Paediatricians aren't really taught what should be every practitioner's finest skill - communication. Few can convey bad news to parents in a way that it is better received.

I see kids stuttering or barfing Monday to Friday, while nothing happens over the weekend. What does that say about a pushy adult world?

Vibha Krishnamurthy brings a rare blend of intensive medical training and innate intuition to her consulting table at Ummeed, to deal with a gamut of behavioural disturbances relating to children. MEHER MARFATIA discovers how Mumbai's only developmental paediatrician works with families to provide holistic multi-disciplinary care

[Vibha Krishnamurthy: the best in the business]

“Largely serendipity,” is how she describes finding her métier. But what she so casually mentions, has helped hundreds of parents and children, taking them from harrowing to happier times. With the distinction of being Mumbai's only developmental paediatrician, literally one of a handful in the field across the country, Dr Vibha Krishnamurthy slowly but surely lights up lives, excelling in this superspecialisation to the extent that she's hailed the best in the business.

At Ummeed (aptly meaning 'hope'), her Mumbai centre for child development, Krishnamurthy works with a team of dedicated therapists and counsellors, dispensing doses of dead-on diagnosis and treatment for developmental disorders that she prefers to call 'variations'. Trademark bright smile flashing, she explains, “It's all actually on a continuum, a question of degree. Behavioural conditions are graded, lying along different points of the same spectrum.”

Working with parents is key to Krishnamurthy's philosophy. She calls it parent empowerment. “Being child-centric is inadequate,” she feels. A good example of this extended involvement would be the support group formed by parents of children afflicted with ADHD. Accepting the demand for widespread awareness of this condition where kids are ostracised, labelled 'hyper', parents of these youngsters have seen the logic of banding to reach out to other homes trying to cope with the syndrome.

Misconceptions are discussed and dispelled - like the school situation where teachers dismiss a gifted child, genuinely under-stimulated and bored in class, as 'disruptive'.

Journeying towards a job amply proven a passion and commitment, started innocuously enough. Having completed her MBBS from Lady Hardinge Medical College in Delhi where she was brought up, followed by an MD in paediatrics from Safdarjung Hospital, Krishnamurthy moved to Boston, where the Harvard Medical School system required her to qualify for a fresh MD. “I just thought, 'Let me learn something I know nothing about' - mental health of the young - so I applied for a fellowship vacancy in developmental paediatrics,” she says simply. “Once I immersed myself in these studies, there was no stopping me. Amazed by the fact that it didn't exist where I'd been in India, I was attracted by mainly two things in developmental paediatrics. First, it's tremendous knowing you can contribute to needy families continuingly, holding hands with them from diagnosis till the child grows up. Secondly, the fine calibre of colleagues drawn to this sub-speciality - everyone around is extremely empathetic.”

Back on home turf, a chance encounter with noted Mumbai-based consultant paediatrician, Dr Raju Khubchandani, provided the turning point. “In 1996, he steered me in the right direction, encouraging me to bring my experience to India and begin practice.” On his part, Khubchandani comments, “While Vibha's subject has been assigned separate status in several countries, here she alone accurately settles the overlap between paediatric psychiatry, developmental paediatrics and paediatric neurology. These spheres merge imperceptibly into each other. While all three are often essential for a line of treatment, developmental paediatrics is the link between them. Whether it's testing for a delayed milestone like a child speaking later than most, another with a jumpy attention span or suspected Down's Syndrome, her expertise tackles them equally, filling a major gap in our cities, taking care of so many services under a single umbrella.


[Rewarding breakthrough: piecing the puzzle together]	[Vibha Krishnamurthy with a ward: smiling support]

Despite Khubchandani's take on her, Krishnamurthy feels she could do with having more patience. Some embarrassed self-assessment later, she rates 'being a good listener and communicator' as asset traits. How does she unwind after tough and tight schedules? “Relaxing with my boys (Kabir, six and Karun, three), hiking with husband, Ashish, every three to six months (their last, in June, was to Sitla in the Kumaon Hills) and exercising twice-weekly at the gym. An achievement I'm thrilled about is learning to swim this year - at 38!”

[ Contact information: Ummeed, 7-A Chinoy Mansion, Bhulabhai Desai Road, Mumbai 400 026. Tel: 23632932/ 23632258. Email: ummeed@vsnl.net Website: www.ummeed.org .]

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