A National Consultation on strengthening public health consciousness in India began in New Delhi this morning. The two day National Consultation on “Institutes of Public Health in India: Moving from Concept to Reality” has been organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. It is being held in the background of the identified need in the National Health Policy, 2002 for specialists in public health. Inaugurating the consultations, the Union Health and Family Welfare Minister, Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss stressed the need to increase the number of seats in community medicine given the existing limited institutional capacity in India for strengthening resources and policy development in the area of public health. At the same time, he said, that training in public health should not be confined to only long-term post-graduate courses but should also address the need to upscale public health knowledge and skills of diverse groups of health professionals, health system managers and NGOs all of whom play a vital role as public health functionaries. The Minister said that during his recent visit to the All India Institute of Public Health and Hygiene at Kolkata, he was surprised by the vast variety of courses offered there for students on public health of which he as a medical professional had not been exposed to.
Pointing out that awareness on public health in India is minimal, the Minister said that he had directed his officials in the Ministry to create awareness on this issue in a big way given the rapidly accelerating number of people suffering from non-communicable diseases such as Cardio Vascular diseases, diabetes, cancers and new infections like HIV-AIDS. The Minister was of the view that if people were aware of public health issues, 60% of the expenditure on health could be avoided.
The Government of India is fully committed to stimulate, support and strengthen the growth and functioning of public health institutes in India. Two new institutes which would serve as role models are being planned. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will also provide financial, administrative and technical support to develop a network on public health institutes across the country.
The two days consultation has participants from not only the governmental sector but also NGOs, academicians and professionals in the field of public health. Renowned public health experts of the USA, UK and Finland are also to make presentations and lead working group discussions on capacity building initiatives and creation of infrastructure in the public health field.
(Release ID :3884)