3 Indian-Americans in Time magazine's 'Health Care 50' list
Houston, Oct 24: Three Indian-Americans have been named in the Time magazine's 2018 list of the 50 most influential people whose work is transforming healthcare in the US.
The three Indian-Americans included in the list are Divya Nag, Dr Raj Panjabi and Atul Gawande.
To put together the list, Time's team of health editors and reporters nominated people who made significant contributions to the state of healthcare in America this year.
The publication then evaluated their work on originality, impact and quality. The list was broken up into four separate categories, including public health, treatments, cost and technology.
The list included physicians, scientists, business and political leaders, whose work is transforming healthcare.
At not even 30, Nag is leading Apple's special projects focusing on health. Nag's team developed ResearchKit, an open-source app developer for doctors and researchers to share patient results and clinical data, and this fall it announced groundbreaking new tools for the Apple Watch: the Series 4 includes an emergency response system, in case the wearer falls and doesn't respond, and a medical-grade EKG heart-rate monitor.
A Harvard Medical School professor who came to the US as a refugee from Liberia, Panjabi co-founded Last Mile Health to recruit and train community health workers in areas that lack local health services. Last Mile's efforts were crucial in fighting Ebola from 2014 to 2016, and now Panjabi is building Community Health Academy, a mobile platform for training health care workers remotely through video and audio instruction
Gawande was tapped to lead a new nonprofit health care venture that will cover the more than 1 million employees of Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase. Though few details are public, it's said to focus on transparent, low-cost corporate health care.
"The American healthcare system has been plagued for decades by major problems, from lack of access to uncontrolled costs to unacceptable rates of medical errors," the Time editors wrote in a report unveiling the list.
"And yet, real as those issues remain, the field has also given rise to extraordinary innovation," the editors added.
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Zubeen Garg's drowning in Singapore highlights vessel operators' responsibility: legal experts
Singapore (PTI): The drowning of Indian singer-composer Zubeen Garg has brought the spotlight on rules and regulations that concern responsibilities of vessel operators when dealing with intoxicated passengers, according to a media report that cited legal experts.
A cultural icon in India’s northeastern region, 52-year-old Garg travelled to Singapore in September 2025 to perform at a live event. A day before his performance, he went on a yacht trip with a group of people. He drowned while swimming in the sea near Lazarus Island, which is a popular diving spot.
His death shook his home state Assam, where millions came out on the streets mourning. Later, police cases were registered against the organiser of the event, his manager and some others.
Nico Lee, managing director of the Triangle Legal law firm, told The Straits Times that Singapore has Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (Port) Regulations under which there are provisions to debar drunk passengers.
The owner, agent or captain of the vessel must not allow persons under the influence of alcohol or drugs onboard if they are intoxicated to a point where they endanger safety of the vessel, its crew or any person in it.
“In terms of civil liability, it could be argued that a yacht captain is negligent, as he owes a prima facie duty of care to guests on board under general negligence principles,” Lee was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
The singer and his entourage of about 15 individuals were partying on a chartered vessel, which they had boarded at Marina at Keppel Bay.
A death certificate issued by the Singapore General Hospital listed his cause of death as drowning.
An autopsy report suggested that Garg had 333 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood in his system, which was four times the legal limit for driving in Singapore and is likely to have impacted his coordination.
Citing Garg’s case, Lee said the circumstances were serious, as the controller of the vessel knew that the guest was intoxicated. Also, he may not have understood or processed a safety briefing for all passengers.
“That combination makes reliance on an ordinary briefing inadequate. If intoxication reaches a level that endangers the safety of the vessel or persons on board, the person in charge should not permit boarding at all,” he said.
According to Lee, the vessel’s operators could also have assigned a crew member to directly supervise him or ensure that he received a one-to-one explanation when he was capable of understanding.
Part of the responsibility could be attributed to the guest if he chose to enter the water and ignore instructions or behave dangerously despite the yacht owner or charterer’s best efforts, Lee said.
Vanessa Sandhu from Clifford Law LLP told The Straits Times that a key question is whether the yacht captain or operator owed a “duty of care” to the passenger and, if so, whether a breach of that duty caused the death.
“A yacht captain and operator generally owe passengers a duty to take reasonable care for their safety while on board, including swimming or water activities. This may include providing safety equipment and issuing appropriate safety instructions,” the daily quoted Sandhu as saying.
“However, the standard of care is an objective one, based on what a reasonable captain or operator would have done in the circumstances. It is not an absolute obligation to prevent all harm,” she said.
During the coroner’s inquiry, the operators of the vessel had said that no one had forced the singer to consume alcohol or enter the water, and that the entire entourage was informed on the yacht about the necessity of wearing life jackets before going for a swim.
A coroner’s inquiry on March 25 ruled Garg’s death as accidental drowning. On April 1, the police said that investigations into the singer's death had concluded, with no evidence of foul play.
However, in Assam, where seven persons were arrested in connection with Garg’s case, and some of them charged with murder, the matter is being heard in the court. All the suspects have denied any wrongdoing.
