Odisha HRD

Indian Institute of Public Health Bhubaneswar is the fourth IIPH to be operational; September 30 2010 deadline for future faculty program

Its web page is http://www.phfi.org/iiph/iiphb.html. Following is today’s screen shot of that page.

IIPH’s are developed by the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI). PHFI has a future faculty program. Following is an excerpt from the page http://www.phfi.org/careers/ffproramme.html about that program.

Under the Future Faculty Programme, PHFI is pleased to announce the following fellowships

WELLCOME TRUST PROGRAMME (2009-2014)

In 2009, PHFI, along with a consortium of 14 British Universities, was awarded a £ 5 million (pounds) capacity building grant for faculty development. This ambitious 5 year programme aims to develop the teaching and research skills of PHFI’s faculty members by supporting their growth at various career stages. This programme includes opportunities for graduate and doctoral studies, collaborative research projects and research fellowships, and faculty exchanges.

Under this programme, PHFI invites applications for :

Masters studies in public health (Duration: 1 year)

Doctoral studies in public health (Duration: 3 years)

Research fellowships in public health (Duration: 2 years)

Please click on the individual links above to know more about eligibility, application process, timelines and other details.

PHFI-DEAKIN FELLOWSHIP

PHFI is pleased to announce a PhD fellowship under the FFP, for professionals keen on doctoral studies in Public Health at Deakin University, Australia.

Please click here to know more about this.

Note: The deadline of the following two programs is September 30, 2010.

August 21st, 2010

Application form for PG Diploma in Public Health Management at IIPH Bhubaneswar, Delhi, Gandhinagar and Hyderabad: Deadline May 31st 2010

The following is a jpg version of the application form found at http://www.phfi.org/downloads/pdf/Application%20form%20-%20PGDPHM.pdf.

See http://www.phfi.org/downloads/pdf/ for various other PHFI and IIPH documents and forms. They are not properly linked from the homepage.

6 comments May 16th, 2010

IIPH Bhubaneswar starts with a 1 yr PG Diploma in Public Health Management

Note that currently this program (PG Diploma in Public Health Management) is not offered by AIPH Bhubaneswar. Currently AIPH offers a certificate in Public Health Management, PG Diploma in Public Health Informatics and MPH (in collaboration with Ravenshaw University).

May 4th, 2010

Asian Institute of Public Health (AIPH) Bhubaneswar starts PG Diploma in Public Health Informatics; Signs MOU with Ravenshaw University to offer MPH

Update2: Excerpts from Expressbuzz.

An MoU was signed between Ravenshaw University Vice- Chancellor Devdas Chotray and AIPH founder secretary Dr Pinaki Panigrahi for the launch of the Masters in Public Health (MPH) programme. Besides imparting comprehensive skills in public health, the course would turn students into experts on occupational and environmental health, public health informatics and clinical and behavioural sciences. With an extensive hands-on experience, they will pass out as professionals ready to shoulder the challenges of the rise of chronic, infectious, occupational and environmental health problems that are vital contributors to high infant and maternal mortality in the State.

The first of its kind programme in Orissa is accreditated by the Council of Education on Public Health (CEPH) under the USA Government. The students would also gain credit points that would facilitate pursuance of higher studies in the US if they so willed.

But, foremost, the programme would churn out the much needed manpower in the State. There are at least 10,000 jobs for public health professionals in the district and block level under the National Rural health Mission. This apart, public health professionals are much sought after by private health sector enterprises, national and international agencies.

Update: Dharitri’s take on this.

The Asian Institute of Public Health in Bhubaneswar has announced a PG Diploma program in Public Health Informatics. This course will start in September 2010. Some details on the course obtained from their page http://www.aiph.ac.in/academics.html is as follows:

Post Graduate Diploma in Public Health Informatics (24 Credits, 12 months course begins 1st September, 2010)

The objective of this course is to help individuals gain knowledge and skills in informatics concepts and applications and advance the use of informatics in risk assessment, disease monitoring and disease surveillance. The course provides an opportunity for the students to understand the information system architecture in public health, privacy, confidentiality and security issues related to health information systems. Graduate students from all disciplines are eligible for this course that will be offered online three times a year. The course consists of the following modules:

·    Introduction to Public Health Informatics (IPHI) – Basics of public health informatics, core competencies of public health professionals, and systematic review of public health information systems.

·    Foundation of Health Information Systems (FHIS) – This course is designed to help individuals gain knowledge and skills in public health standards, databases, privacy, confidentiality and security issues relevant to public health information systems.

·    Applications of Public Health Informatics (APHI) – overview of clinical decision support systems, Geographic Information Systems, public health surveillance systems.

·    Computer mediated Health Education and Health Promotion (CMHEHP) – Web based approaches to health education and health promotion, role of health literacy and varied learning needs of public health consumers and different stakeholders.

·    A 12 credit informatics research project will be required to get the Post Graduate Diploma in Public Health Informatics.

The institute seems to have a strong faculty. See http://www.aiph.ac.in/Indian.html.

Surendra K. Mishra, MSc, PGDA, DCS

Health systems, behavioural sciences research and communication, reproductive health

Ashish Joshi, MD, MPH

Public health informatics, health outcomes research, design of multi-component interventions

Niharika Khanna, MD, DCH
HPV epidemiology, cervical cancer, cancer vaccines

Prasanna Nair, MD, MPH

Maternal and child health, epidemiology, HIV/AIDS

P N Padmanabhan, PhD, FAAASc

Nutrition, non-invasive methods for monitoring gastrointestinal health, cancer prevention

Seba Mohapatra, MD

Maternal health, health systems

Pinaki Panigrahi, MD, PhD
Epidemiology, field surveillance, human research protection, clinical trials

P. K. Senapati, MD

Health systems, health care delivery and administration

S. Ramanathan, MPhil

Health economics and finance, reproductive health, gender and equity

Preethy Nayar, MBBS, MPhil, PhD

Health services research & administration, program and policy evaluation

Shireen Rajaram, PhD

Social and behavioral sciences, access to health care, health care disparity

Pritish Nanda, PGDHM, MPH
Health communication, hospital management, social mobilization, program management

E. Venkata Rao, MD
Epidemiology, financial management

U.S.-based faculty teaching at AIPH, Bhubaneswar

Patrik Johansson, MD, MPH.

Health communication, community-based participatory research

Ayman El-Mohandes, MD, MPH
International health, program evaluation

J. Glenn Morris Jr, MD, MPH&TM

Infectious diseases, Cholera, emerging and re-emerging diseases

Ira H. Gewolb, MD
Newborn health, biostatistics

Judith A. Johnson, PhD
Infectious diseases, antibiotic resistance, clinical microbiology

Magda G. Peck, ScD

Leadership development and practice, childhood well being evaluation

Chandran Achutan, PhD

Occupational and environmental health

Hala Azzam, PhD, MPH

Workforce development and training, field assessments, HIV/AIDS

Hrishikesh Chakraborty, DrPH

Biostatistics, epidemiology, cluster randomized trials

James Sherry, MD,PhD
Health policy, international health

Jaime Gofin, MD, PhD
Program evaluation, community-oriented primary care

Li-Wu Chen, MHSA, PhD

Health economics, cost-effectiveness analysis, health care utilization by underserved population

KM Monirul Islam, MBBS, PhD

Epidemiology, international health, development of surveillance system and evaluation

Ge Lin, PhD

GIS and spatial statistics, statistic methods for defining and quantifying their spatial signals

This instiute will add to the public health offerings in India which include various IIPH offerings such as:

IIPH Delhi: PG Diploma in (a) Clinical Research (b) Public Health Management and (c) Health Economics, Health Care Financing and Health Policy
IIPH Hyderabad: PG Diploma in (a) Biostatistics and Data Management
IIPH Gandhinagar: PG Diploma in (a) Public Health Management

The IIPH in Bhubaneswar (different from the AIPH) is also scheduled to start in July 2010. The AIPH and IIPH in Bhubaneswar will make Bhubaneswar a strong public health education destination. I hope both will spread their wings across Odisha so that some of the current public health issues of interior Odisha are adequately addressed. I am told AIPH is already doing that and has research projects involving interior and tribal Odisha.

Pioneer reports today that AIPH has signed an MOU with Ravenshaw University. This is a great partnership and beneficial to both.

5 comments March 27th, 2010

The earlier mentioned PHFI center in Bhubaneswar will be an IIPH (Indian Institute of Public Health); Will open this July

Update3: From Samaja – 10% seats will be reserved for students from Odisha.

Update2: From Dharitri

Update: Business Standard has more details on this. Following are some excerpts.

Speaking on the occasion, Patnaik said, … “IIPH, in consultation with the state government, will impart training programmes for enhancing the capacity of the public health functionaries across all levels. The institute will offer Post-Graduate diploma programmes in Public Health Management, Health Economics, Health Care Financing, Health Policy, Biostatistics and Data Management. In addition, IIPH will conduct two-year diploma course in Public Health and Masters in Public Health”, he added.

… Reddy, the PHFI president, said, “Once the IIPH campus is fully operational, it will offer training short-term training programmes to 500 people and long-term training to 300 others.

As per the IIPH web pages currently the following courses are offered by the existing IIPHs.

Delhi: PG Diploma in (a) Clinical Research (b) Public Health Management and (c) Health Economics, Health Care Financing and Health Policy
Hyderabad: PG Diploma in (a) Biostatistics and Data Management
Gandhinagar: PG Diploma in (a) Public Health Management

Earlier when it was announced that PHFI centers will open in Bhubaneswar and Balasore it was not clear what kind of center it would be. (See also here and here.) Following is an excerpt from a PTI report that says an IIPH will start in Bhubaneswar this July.

Orissa will soon get an Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH) here which will start functioning from July this year.

An MoU in this regard was signed between the state government and the New Delhi-based Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) for establishment of an IIPH here at an investment of Rs 140 crore.

"The institute will deal in education, training and research on prioritised health problems of the state," Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said while attending a function on the occasion.

While the state government had agreed to give 40 acres of land free of cost at Kumarbasta village near here to establish the IIPH, the PHFI would invest the money for the purpose, Patnaik said.

Considering the real need with respect to containing Cholera, Malaria and other diseases that frequently break out in the hinterlands the IIPH in Bhubaneswar must establish branches in the hinterlands of Odisha.

2 comments February 10th, 2010

Srikant Jena tries to bring PHFI center to Orissa; Is that an IIPH? Will he succeed?

Although MOS from Orissa, Srikant Jena gets high marks for trying, but based on his past record (unsuccessful in getting Army to make a medical college in Balasore; no progress on a NIPER in Orissa) one has to wait for other indications before one can conclude that an IIPH (Indian Institute of Public Health) is being established in Orissa. But any way, here is the latest from Samaja.

October 20th, 2009

MOS in GOI Mr. Srikant Jena pushes for a NIPER and an IIPH: Samaja

2 comments August 10th, 2009

Asian Institute of Public Health to come up in Orissa

Update 2: Telegraph also reports on it.

Update: A report in Hindu has some more details. Following are some excerpts:

AIPH is starting with small programmes such as Certificate in Public Health Management. The institute would be located over a 50-acre land near Jatni, on the outskirt of the capital city. Promoters of the institute plan to invest Rs. 15 crores immediately to start the programme with the help of some guest faculties from the USA.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, David J. Ramsay, president of University of Maryland, said “We will build different centres of excellence under the umbrella of AIPH. I have allocated matching funds in our efforts to secure financial support for infrastructure building. Very soon, AIPH will bring US-based faculty and experts to Orissa for teach, training and conducting research.”

AIPH Secretary Pinaki Panigrahi claimed the institute would be the first of its kind as India had 209 medical colleges whereas there was no full-fledged public health school. But in USA there were 129 medical schools and 33 public health institutes, he added. “The institute will prepare workforce to help formulate and implement health programmes in the country,” Dr. Panigrahi said.

The new institute has roped in several Indian-based teaching faculties as well as US-based experts to take forward different specialized programmes in its campus.

Among others AIPH President N. K Ganguly, who was former director-general of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), was present on the occasion.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Expressbuzz.com.

With disease burden not showing any signs of decline despite advancement in therapeutic sciences across the world, the focus of public health has shifted to prevention.

The future of a healthy society hinges on securing the populace from afflictions by way of inducing suitable changes in lifestyle and societal atmosphere and also, very importantly, increasing immunity through vaccination, said President of University of Maryland Baltimore, (UMB), USA, David J Ramsey today.

Ramsey told this paper that worldwide, intensive efforts are on to develop vaccines for diseases that have the greatest impact on the population and not on individuals. The UMB has already developed a vaccine for cholera, which is being successfully implemented in South American countries. Progress is being made in the efforts to formulate a vaccine for malaria, AIDS and several other prevalent diseases in the stateof- the-art facility at the University.

But the challenge lies in implementation of the interventions to check outbreaks. Public health is still not considered a different domain from medical or clinical streams in most parts of the world, particularly developing countries including India.‘‘

The realm of public health basically involves collating biostatistics, epidemiology, environmental health sciences, health services administration, and social and behavioural sciences so that prevention and treatment initiatives and policies would be well-directed and most effective,’’ the head of the prestigious institute said.

And, in an initiative aimed at strengthening the public health sector in India as well as the sub-continental countries by producing skilled professionals to carry out operational research to develop sustainable health-care delivery models, the Asian Institute of Public Health (AIPH), a partner of UMB, is set to take shape here from Sunday.

The first of its kind institute in the country, with support of the Orissa Government, would offer courses on Public Health Management, Management development programmes on ‘Surveillance, Epidemic Preparedness and Response’, ‘Biostatistics and Research Methodologies’, ‘Biomedical Waste Management and Handling’, ‘Good clinical Practice of Clinical research’ and ‘Emerging issues in public health’. The target scholars would include medical officers, AYUSH doctors, personnel from health agencies, Government health administrators, social scientists, corporate sector managers dealing with health programmes, paramedics, sanitation workers, NGOs, etc. The courses have been designed and be certified by UMB, AIPH secretary Dr Pinaki Panigrahi said.

The above articles do not mention the Indian Institutes of Public Health being built in India, three of which mention that they are offering post-graduate diploma starting fromn the 2008-09 session. Following is an excerpt.

The Indian Institutes of Public Health at Delhi, Gandhinagar, and Hyderabad would be offering the following Post Graduate Diploma (PGD) Programs in the academic year 2008-09:

IIPH, Delhi: PGD in Health Economics and Policy

IIPH, Gandhinagar: PGD in Public Health Management

IIPH, Hyderabad: PGD in Biostatistics and Data Management

If done right the AIPH can surpass the IIPHs, mainly because a well known professor Dr. Pinaki Panigrahi is behind it and his university, The University of Maryland at Baltimore, is an active collaborator on this. The Orissa govt. may take advantage of the AIPH and push for an IIPH next to it. They have discussed with PHFI, but its plan (see here and here) in Orissa is not clear.

Also, note that in the PHFI/IIPH model companies, state and the center (through PHFI) fund the IIPHs. Orissa government should help AIPH in a similar manner: contribute a similar amount, ask companies to contribute and ask the center to contribute. To get an idea of the PPP nature and the amount used to fund IIPH, following is an excerpt from a report in Hindu.

Industry leaders came forward to pump in Rs. 30 crore to make Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH), an arm of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), commence its first-ever postgraduate diploma course in biostatistics and data management from July this year.

The Union Government through PHFI had sanctioned Rs. 60 crore, while the State Government allotted 43 acres in Rajendranagar and sanctioned Rs. 30 crore for the IIPH. The new governing council assumed charge on Saturday. Addressing a press conference here, G.V. Krishna Reddy, chairman of the governing council, said he, along with G.V. Prasad of Dr. Reddy’s Labs, G. Mallikarjuna Rao of GMR Group, N. Prasad of Matrix Labs, B. Rama Raju of Satyam Group, and SriniRaju of iLabs, would together donate Rs. 30 crore.

6 comments November 2nd, 2008

Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH) to come up in Bhubaneswar?

Following is from a news report in Pioneer.

A unit of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) will be set up at Bhubaneswar. A decision to this effect was taken at a joint high-level meeting between the CM Naveen Patnaik and Chairman of the Foundation Srinath Reddy at the State Secretariat on Thursday. Government will provide all the basic infrastructures for institution.

PHFI aims to influence public health education, research, and policy. The goal is to establish at least five world-class Indian Institutes of Public Health. These Institutes will initially train 1,000-plus professionals a year, with the goal of producing as many as 10,000 graduates. The Association of Schools of Public Health of the U.S. will offer educational and technical assistance.

The Foundation will bolster existing schools of public health by creating a pool of permanent faculty and establishing an accreditation agency that will standardise public health education. India currently graduates some 375 students each year from its schools of public health and institutions-compared to the 10,000 needed annually.

With the setting up this unit, Orissa will become a leader in the entire eastern region.

From the above news item it is not clear what is meant by a unit of PHFI. Is it an IIPH or something else?

Update: Following is Samaja’s report on it.

Update: Following is Sambada’s report on it.

5 comments April 25th, 2008

PHFI to establish a public health training center in Bhubaneswar – Sambada. Why not an IIPH?

April 4th, 2008

Orissa in slumber and may miss taking advantage of the 11th plan opportunities in higher education: Tathya.in

Action Item: Readers concerned about this may write to the CM at cmo@ori.nic.in to take immediate action and copy to one of the journalists in Orissa (perhaps Braja babu of Tathya.in at brajakmishra@gmail.com)

Following is from http://tathya.in/story.asp?sno=1455.

Orissa this time also is all set to miss the bus for Higher Education.

While the Higher Education Program for the Eleventh Five Year Plan is being final touches, Orissa is in deep slumber.

And who will be able to wake up a sleeping state, which is at the lowest ebb of the investment plan of the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD), asks educationists.

The Eleventh Plan is historical because investment in HRD sector will receive a big jump.

Just follow these numbers:

Currently there are 7 Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) s that was made over 60 years; there will 8 more during the 11th Plan.

There are 23 central universities made over 60 years; 30 more will be added during the Plan.

There are no world class universities in India and planners have decided to go for 14.

There are 6 Indian Institute of Management (IIM) s that was made over 60 years; there is a plan to establish 7 more.

There is a plan to set up Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH).

Currently there is a single National Institute of Design that was made in 60 years since Independence; there is a plan to make 4 more during the Plan.

The 11th Plan’s stated goal is to take the higher education enrolment to 15 per cent.

Orissa’s higher education enrolment is at the bottom 6.1 per cent.

So Orissa must be working very hard to take advantage of the 11th plan.

Lo behold ! No home work in sight and this time also the state is going to loose heavily, feel the educationists.

Chitta Baral, Professor in Arizona State University is a worried person.

And Prof. Baral has every reason to worry.

We need a world class university and not a single soul has raised his voice for the same in the Government, lamented Prof.Baral.

This type of institution will have a budget of Rs.1000 crore.

It would be again a pity, if the state is going to lose the same as there is opportunity to make a strong case.

It has the Ravenshaw University which without any affiliate colleges, matches the expected model of a world class university.

But will the State Government make such a case, asks Prof.Baral.

While Orissa is haunted by deaths due to cholera, it will be an appropriate place for setting up an Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH)

Till date the State has made no efforts to get one of the proposed 5-7 IIPHs in Orissa.

So far Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) s are concerned Orissa has not done much beyond the Chief Minister sending a couple of half-baked and impolite letters to the Prime Minister.

On the other hand, many other states have sent more detailed proposals.

Take the case of KBK Central University, in the past Orissa has made a case regarding a Central University in KBK.

However, it has not followed up on it recently.

Is not it time the State Government to follow up on this and makes a case, by pointing to the central universities in the North East, asks he.

It is not too late for many of the above; otherwise Orissa will get the pea nuts and predictably complain about Central apathy against the state.

3 comments December 18th, 2007

IIPH funding sources

A Rajya Sabha report gives some idea about the funding for IIPHs. Following is an excerpt from that report.

The Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) is a Public Private Partnership created for capacity building in Public Health Education, training and research. Considering the public health challenges that India faces, the demand for Public Health Professionals far exceeds the availability of adequately trained Public Health manpower. PHFI seeks to address this concern. Therefore, in the next 5-10 years, the PHFI would over the next 5-10 years help in creating around 2000 plus Public Health Professionals annually. This would be through establishment of world class Schools of Public Health (IIPH); strengthening of existing Schools of Public Health in the country. PHFI would also help establish standards in Public Health Education by enabling the formation of independent accreditation system.

The Government of India is contributing Rs. 65 Crore approximately one-third of the initial seed capital required for kick-starting the PHFI and for establishment of two Schools of Public Health. The remaining amount (approximately Rs.135 crore) is being raised from outside the Government, namely, Melinda & Bill Gates Foundation (Rs.65 cr.) and from high net-worth individuals. PHFI is managed by an independent Governing Board that includes 3 members from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfares viz. Secretary (H&FW); DG ICMR and DGHS. Shri T.K.A. Nair Principal Secretary to Prime Minister, Dr. M.S. Ahluwalia, Vice Chairman, Planning Commission; Smt. Sujata Rao, AS&PD, NACO, Ministry of Health; Dr. Mashelkar, DG CSIR are also members of the Governing Board. The presence of the officials from Government would ensure that the decisions taken in PHFI are in consonance with the objectives for which PHFI has been supported by Government of India. It is expected that all members of the Governing Board would ensure the functioning of the Foundation as a professional organization and with complete transparency.

In the yahoo article http://in.news.yahoo.com/070628/48/6hhzm.html it is mentioned that the cost of IIPH in Gujarat is 140 crores of which the Gujarat government will contribute 25 crores.

October 21st, 2007

PHFI and the new IIPHs (Indian Institutes of Public Health)

Following are extracts from the web pages of the Public Health Foundation of India (http://www.phfi.org/home.asp).

Background:

What is public health?

Public health has often been defined as a science dealing with the determinants and defense of health at the population level, while clinical medicine deals with multiple maladies and their remedies at the level of the individual patient.

Public health aims to elucidate and influence the social, cultural and economic determinants of health as well as to study and structure health systems as efficient channels for health services delivery. Public health thus is a discipline built on an academic tradition of inquiry involving research, teaching and professional practice to prevent disease and promote health in populations.

Why a foundation for public health?

As India experiences a rapid health transition, it is confronted both by an unfinished agenda of infectious diseases, nutritional deficiencies and unsafe pregnancies as well as the challenge of escalating epidemics of non-communicable diseases. This composite threat to the nation’s health and development needs a concerted public health response that can ensure efficient delivery of cost-effective interventions for health promotion, disease prevention and affordable diagnostic and therapeutic health care.

These health challenges urgently require capacity building for health research, policy development and analysis, programme development and evaluation, health systems organization, models of health care financing and operationalized scientific research.Education and training in public health needs to be inter-disciplinary in content so that the pathways of public health action are multi-sectoral. Public health education must include subject areas like epidemiology, biostatistics, behavioral sciences, health economics, health services management, environmental health, health inequities and human rights, gender and health, health communication, ethics of health care and research. The interventions proposed need to be evidence based, context specific and resource sensitive.

About Us:

The Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) is a response to redress the limited institutional capacity in India for strengthening training, research and policy development in the area of Public Health. It is a public private partnership that was collaboratively evolved through consultations with multiple constituencies including Indian and international academia, state and central governments in India, multi & bi-lateral agencies and civil society groups in India.

The mission of PHFI is to benchmark quality standards for public health education; establish public health institutes of excellence based on these standards; to undertake meaningful public health research; and to advocate for public policy linked to broader public health goals.
…

Charter:

The PHFI is working towards building public health capacity in India by:

* Establishing 5 -7 new institutes of public health over the next 6 years;
* Assisting the growth of existing public health training institutions/departments and facilitating their evolution into major institutes of public health;
…

Career:

Directors: Indian Institutes of Public Health (Hyderabad, Delhi and Gandhinagar)

The Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) is seeking three dynamic and enterprising public health experts as Directors of its upcoming Indian Institutes of Public Health (IIPH) at Hyderabad, Delhi and Gandhinagar. The first IIPH is to come up by July 2008 and the other two will begin operations in 2009.

Following are excerpts from an yahoo article that gives an idea of the cost involved in making an IIPH.

THE Gujarat government has decided to set up an Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH) under the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) project, initiated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last year.

This will churn out healthcare professionals and also to establish a strong national research network of public health, assisting in the growth of existing public health training institutions.

The State Cabinet, in its meeting on Wednesday, had cleared a proposal to allot 50 acres of government land for the Rs 140-crore IIPH at Chiloda near Gandhinagar. The institute has proposed a deemed university status.

An abridged version of an memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the PHFI and the state government had been signed during the Vibrant Gujarat Summit in January, 2006, for setting up of the institute.

The work on the institute is expected to begin in a month or so. When ready, the institute will offer degree courses, including a two-year master course in public health, one-year diploma in public health management and a three-year BSc course in public health.

For students from Gujarat, 10 per cent seats will be reserved for the Master Public Health (MPH) courses.

One-year diploma in public health (DPH) and other short-term courses will also be designed specifically for government servants and a subsidised fee structure for such candidates will be worked out.

… The official said the institute will also offer several short-term programmes in regard to in-service training in public health issues.

The setting up of the institute will certainly help the state in getting resource support and further strengthen health services for all sections of the population.

Of the estimated project cost of Rs 140 crore, Rs 80 crore will be used for construction, Rs 10 crore for learning resources and Rs 50 crore to cover operating deficit in the first 3 to 5 years.

Gujarat’s share will be Rs 25 crore, while the Public Health Foundation of India will provide the rest of the funds for the institute, the official added.

A newkerala.com article dated Sept 26th 2007 mentions that the fourth IIPH will be in Shillong, Meghalaya. A PIB release of last year mentions that there will be an IIPH in Mohali, Punjab. Hence, the five announced for IIPH will be in Hyderabad, Delhi and Gandhinagar, Shillong and Mohali.

84 comments October 21st, 2007