The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh has expressed concern over the severe shortage of trained public health professionals with broad based multi-disciplinary knowledge of the determinants of health. The Prime Minister stressed the need to address the capacity gap among health personnel. The Prime Minister was speaking at a function to launch the Public Health Foundation of India here. "We need public health professionals equipped with expertise and managerial skills to design and deliver health programmes at the national level and down to the village level," he added.
Referring to the major gap in human resources in health sector, Singh declared, "Programmes for the poor will degenerate into poor programmes, if these deficiencies are not corrected. If we do not effectively upscale knowledge and skills of our people and act purposefully to protect and promote their health, we run the risk of wasting this precious human resource."
He said," We need to impart a much greater degree of professional management into our work and practices - systems, processes and a culture that are 'stakeholder focused' rather than internally focused, efficient and responsive. Secondly, we need to collaborate extensively more than ever before as it is a well-known cliché that health needs a multi-sectoral response. Hence, the notion of public-private partnerships is extremely pertinent in our change agenda. Thirdly, we need to have the courage to innovate, to embrace change, to welcome new ways of working and to carry with us the wisdom rather than the prejudice of experience."
He emphasized the need to bridge a major gap in our health education by training professionals in disciplines that relate to health, such as economics, sociology, demography and environment-in addition to management of diseases.
Expressing concern over the severe shortage of trained public health professionals with broad based multi-disciplinary knowledge of the determinants of health, the Prime Minister stressed the need to address the capacity gap among health personnel. "I look forward to your public health schools helping us bridge this gap by training people who can in turn build capacities at middle and senior management levels in the Indian health system," he added.
The Prime Minister urged the Foundation to develop an Indian agenda both in academics and research. "Many tropical diseases are under-researched and this institution could, by harnessing the best technical expertise from all over the world break new ground in the management of tropical diseases," he said.
Singh stressed the importance of revitalizing and strengthening departments of social and preventive medicine in our medical colleges. He also highlighted the importance of increasing health literacy among all sections of our people, undertaking programmes in health education and assisting in community empowerment. "The setting up of the Public Health Foundation of India presents an opportunity to develop innovative models of public-private partnership in social sector programmes," Singh said.
"PHFI seeks to bridge a very major gap in our health education by training professionals in disciplines that relate to health, such as economics, sociology, demography and environment in addition to management of diseases. We need to develop a new cadre of professionals who are managers of health and not just of diseases. We have good quality human resources in the area of clinical management. But we woefully lack public health managers. I therefore commend the PHFI in taking this initiative to bridge a critical gap in health education and in blazing a trail by setting up a series of public health schools," he said.
"I am happy that the Public Health Foundation of India has many of these issues on its agenda. I hope the public health professionals you train will help transform the state of our public health services. From my own personal observations, in many areas of social development, our problem is not a lack of ideas. On the contrary, institutions have failed to deliver. I therefore hope the PHFI will also invest in capacity-building in existing public health institutions across the country. We also need to revitalize and strengthen departments of social and preventive medicine in our medical colleges. We have a rich legacy in this area, but of late, we have neglected this aspect. Your efforts will help invigorate our health services and contribute to the success of health programmes."
The setting up of the Public Health Foundation of India presents a unique opportunity to develop innovative models of public-private partnership in major social sector programmes. Such partnership can help blend the commitment of government with the operational efficiency of not-for-profit private groups, he added.