Dr. R. K. Thukral and the Work of Bringing Neuropsychiatry Closer to Patients
New Delhi [India], November 14: For a family in a district town in Uttar Pradesh, seeing a neuropsychiatrist can mean taking a day off work, travelling to Lucknow and making the same journey for follow-up. Dr. R. K. Thukral, a senior neuropsychiatrist and Chairman and Managing Director of Omnicare Health House, has spent much of his career bringing care closer to those families. Over the years, he has run approximately 19 centres across Uttar Pradesh and continues to serve patients through satellite centres. Online consultations are available to patients in India and abroad, and digital prescriptions give families a record they can refer to between visits.
For Dr. Thukral, psychiatry is a calling. A working day can stretch from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., and he describes the time he spends listening to patients as a form of meditation. In the consulting room, that means giving each person his full attention, even on a long day. A patient may come in with a complaint about sleep or memory, while a family member may have noticed changes at work or at home. Both accounts help the team understand what has changed and where to begin.
Dr. Thukral earned his MBBS and MD in Psychiatry at King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, and holds a diploma in clinical medicine and neurology. He served as a neuropsychiatrist at Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences and as Senior Consultant in Neuropsychiatry at Sahara Hospital, now Max Hospital, Lucknow. He completed a certificate course in dementia at the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom and trained at Amen Clinics in San Diego, where he studied the use of brain SPECT imaging in behavioural assessment. He is a Life Fellow of the Indian Psychiatric Society and a member of the American Academy of Neurology, the American Psychiatric Association and the European Psychiatric Association. He has travelled to nearly 100 countries and attended numerous medical conferences in India and abroad.
Omnicare’s main centre in Lucknow brings consultation, assessment, treatment and rehabilitation under one roof. A team of approximately 70 to 80 people, including five psychologists, supports the centre’s work. Services include psychological and neuropsychological assessment, psychotherapy, biofeedback, a sleep laboratory and access to Apollo Diagnostics. The centre also has facilities for repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Sanjeevani, Omnicare’s de-addiction and psychiatric rehabilitation centre, provides structured care for patients who need ongoing support.
