SHILLONG: In its bid to address the perpetual shortage of specialist doctors in Meghalaya, the state government has taken up an initiative to address the shortage by launching ‘design and adoption of alternate models for responding to address shortage of medical specialists in Meghalaya’, or ADARSH.
The provisional signing of the MoU and a workshop was conducted between the state government and Public Health Foundation of India and Indian Institutes of Public Health recently in Shillong
Health Secretary Pravin Bakshi said the ADARSH project is an attempt to design and scale up alternate models for responding to the critical shortage of medical specialists and train doctors in the public sector.
“The College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS) model is an alternative that will be adopted in Meghalaya. PHFI/IIPH will work closely with the Government of India, state governments, the CPS and other stakeholders to facilitate specialist doctors strengthening in the public sector,” he said.
Under the programme, large district hospitals will be leveraged for specialist doctors’ training. The project will increase the number of specialists at first referral units, community health centres, sub-district and district hospitals for providing secondary healthcare service.
According to Bakshi, the participating district hospitals will witness a strengthening of their capital infrastructure as well as the staffing of specialists.
It is also hoped that the presence of post-graduate trainees around the year in a hospital will have a domino effect that may lead to better services and higher utilisation.
It is felt that the state government will directly benefit from the availability of a larger specialist pool. The population, particularly women and children, served by the district hospitals will have 24×7 access to medical specialists.
After completion of their training, the states will judiciously choose where these specialists will be posted to address concerns within the state, adding that the two-year courses that will eventually be offered will include diploma in child health, maternal health, anaesthesiology and surgery.
