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Review
of the Government of India/WHO In-country Fellowship Programme
The
Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare suggested holding a review of
Government of India/WHO
In-country collaborative Fellowship Programme.
Accordingly, a meeting was held on 12-13 December 2009 in Udaipur,
Rajasthan.
Eminent
experts from prestigious educational institutions, senior functionaries from
Government agencies and autonomous NGOs participated in the meeting, which
was organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Family
Welfare, Government of India.
The
participants discussed public health workforce development in India
and the country’s training needs.
The
main conclusions included the following:
 Instead
of trying to address some of the very specific needs purely on ad-hoc and
sporadic fashion, fellowships should be intended for strengthening the health
system, for advancing health policy and programmes,
and also for energizing health services for better performance.
Institutional
commitment must be taken both from the training institution to provide
mentorship and hands-on training and from the sponsoring institution, that
there should be commitment of continued support to provide an ambiance where
optimal utilization of acquired skills is possible.
We
should look at a wide range of individuals who can be provided training.
Apart from physicians, non-physicians of various cadres, particularly, the
nurses and even the people involved in other non-physician health care services, should be considered for training opportunities.
Innovation
through multi-location fellowships – rotating fellowships – need to be
structured so that the critical training capacities can be connected to a
particular training objective.
Sharing
of fellowships between international institutions and local institutions, or
two local institutions as per needs, should be looked into.
The
private sector and NGOs could also be considered for training locations.
In
terms of overall health systems performance, the training should be much more
delivery-oriented, with emphasis on quality improvement of infrastructure,
laboratory standards, and health personnel performance. Linkages to NRHM,
primary health care, and district centres should be
emphasized.
There
is a need to bring greater vigour to the fellowship
programme not only in terms of selection, but also
in the process of guiding fellowships.
Post-training
feedback should be obtained from the trainees as well as the sponsoring
institutions regarding quality of training immediately upon completion of the
programme, and the impact of the training for
application over a certain period of time, two years for example.
The recommendations from
the meeting would help adjust, design and plan future fellowships.
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