IIM-Ahmedabad is conducting a management consultation on health care in India on March 20 to 24, 2006. This is first of its kind comprehensive consultation in India covering a wide range of issues concerning healthcare with an objective to increase the interaction between academicians, practitioners, administrators, and members of industries associated with healthcare.

The purpose of this management consultation is to provide- a forum for discussion related to health policy and its implementation; an opportunity to assess, understand, and identify managerial effectiveness in a variety of health care delivery systems; to provide a benchmark to improve operational effectiveness on service quality; and to learn from each other's experience in improving the existing systems, processes, and procedures to deliver better health care, informed officials.

The event will be useful for policy planners, policy administrators, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations involved in health care delivery systems, hospital managers, medical professionals, health care project administrators, senior management executives of pharmaceutical companies, senior executives of insurance agencies, top management from insurance companies, deans and directors of medical colleges, dean of nursing services, managers of pathological laboratories, blood bank administrators, and academicians interested in health care management issues.

Several sessions are planned by top policy makers of Government of India, state governments, leading academicians from well known medical colleges, large teaching hospitals, representatives of national and international institutions connected with health care, non-governmental agencies, representatives of international health care institutions, senior management from pharmaceutical, insurance, and medical devices industry.

Major themes of the programme will include- Health care policy: Policy perspectives in health care from the view point of central government, state governments, and the civil society; Heavy burden disease: Tuberculosis and leprosy control, eye care, communicable disease, safe motherhood and child health, and life style diseases; Health care facility management: All aspects related to investment, management, operational efficiency of health care facilities owned by private, public, corporate and non-profit organizations, international benchmarking, automation, waste management and disposable systems, quality of care, organizational methods and procedures in improving quality of health care.

Other key themes that will be discussed in the programme will include- Service delivery mechanisms: Issues, problems, efficiency and relevance related to delivery mechanisms managed by private agencies, government sector, non-governmental organizations; Education, training, and capacity building: The role of government and regulatory agency in planning for education and training in health care for medical, para medical, and technical staff (including nursing services). Public private partnerships in managing the education and training infrastructure. Capacity building in the context of project implementation. Technical upgradation of community health workers from non-profit organizations.