Shillong: “In terms of health sector requirement – be in human resource or infrastructure – Meghalaya is nowhere near where it is meant to be. There is urgent need to upgrade the skills and training of doctors, nurses, other health workers and ASHA workers. We need more health sub-centres and health and wellness centres to cater to the needs of our people,” said Chief Minister Conrad Sangma while attending the 2nd Convocation Ceremony for short term diploma courses organised by the Meghalaya Diabetes Association (MDA) at Pine Wood Hotel here on Tuesday.
The courses are meant for local doctors who have no opportunity to avail study leave as they are all working.
Sangma thanked the doctors present for saving lives and exhorted them to see be more committed to the cause of suffering humanity. “You cannot imagine how much joy you bring when you treat a patient with love and care”, Conrad said, adding that there are huge challenges that society and the human race is facing today.
Conrad congratulated Dr Daljit Singh Sethi for organising the Certificate Course in Evidence Based Diabetes Management (CCEBDM), Certificate Course on Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (CCGDM) in collaboration with Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) and Certificate Course in Management of Hypertension (CCMH).
The chief minister said these courses will empower doctors to prevent address the issue of non- communicable diseases (NCDs) caused mainly by modern lifestyles and food habits.
Speaking about the ban on fish from Andhra Pradesh, Conrad said that the fishes were banned after a series of tests which found the presence of formalin in them.
“The food we eat is critical to our health. We in the government will now do a study on all food products coming into the state including chicken, to test for the presence of hazardous chemicals. We have to know what we are eating because a lot of illness has to do with eating,” the chief minister observed, adding that the 15-day ban on imported fish will be extended if need be because the government will not compromise on the health of the people.
Referring to the observations earlier made by Dr Sethi that the Meghalaya Health Insurance Scheme does not provide for the insurer to come to the doorstep of the insured as rural people have to come to the city hospitals for their insurance cards to work, Conrad said that soon the State Policy would merge with the Central Policy – Ayushman to make it more robust and tailor it to accommodate the needs of the people here.
Chairman of the MDA, Dr Sethi pointed out that hypertension was not at all common when he started his practice but has gone up substantially in recent years due to different factors. Non communicable diseases like diabetes, cardio vascular diseases and cancer are a burden to family, society and the state. Treatment is expensive and neither the families nor the state has the resources. Hence prevention is the best option, Dr Sethi said.
Pointing to the flaws in the present state insurance policy, Dr Sethi said that it does not reward prevention because the insurance scheme is designed to reward the curative aspects which in turn benefits hospitals and doctors.
Dr Sethi also called upon the chief minister to ensure that doctors serving in private or mission hospitals in the rural areas need to have access to training to upgrade their skills.
Dr Sandeep Bhalla, Programme Director, Public Health Foundation of India (PFHI), listed out the courses offered by the foundation – some of them in collaboration with the Ministry of DoNER.
He pointed to the role of technology in taking care of NCDs. Under the Ayushman Bharat Programme of the Central Government a tablet keeping track of a person’s health through inbuilt technology programme is already being adopted by Tripura and Manipur.
He said that PHFI reaches out to doctors and brings the programmes to their own places since many of them cannot get leave for the duration of the course. He called upon the chief minister to make use of the services of PHFI through the local partners the Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH) based at Shillong.
Altogether 60 doctors from different parts of Meghalaya received their certificates at the convocation for the respective courses they were trained in.
