Karnataka government will soon start an induction course for the 500 medical officers of primary health centres (PHCs). The need to start the course came after the findings of a study on training needs made after an assessment of health managers carried out by the Institute of Public Health (IPH), Bangalore.

The induction course will not only provide information on quick and right diagnosis of complicated cases but also in providing immediate medical attention for cases like epilepsy, burns, accident and snake bites. It will also highlight the psychological make up of the uneducated population who lack the awareness on going to the primary health centres.

According to the study, there is a critical requirement of a training session for the medical officers and this needs to be addressed if the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) project needs to take off.

According to S Basavaraju, Karnataka Commissioner of Health and Family Welfare, the State government has also evolved a training programme on hospital management for district medical officers, besides an integrated session for the primary health centres' doctors. This was essential to improve the management skills of the health officers.

The IPH study aimed at examining the perceptions of the public health administrators. It also scrutinized the existing training programmes available for them and assessed the gaps that existed. Four districts in Orissa and Karnataka were selected for the study through the purposive sampling. The key findings included the need for training in public health management for all the government doctors and creation of separate cadres for clinical services and public health management.

NIRM required the training of seven lakh personnel in social health activists category too. There is also a need for a critical group of people who are knowledgeable about the Mission. This is because one of the primary aims of the NIRM was to reduce infant mortality rate by 50 per cent. In this case, we need both doctors and social welfare people to help out at the primary health centre level, stated Dr Thelma Narayana, representing the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA).

The state government was also bringing in a scheme to eliminate shortage of doctors at the primary health centres by making rural service compulsory for medical students of both the government and private medical colleges.