Health News

Anupriya Patel inaugurates the ‘International Digital Health Symposium’

India has taken the digital inclusion approach to ensure all levels of health services and to include appropriate digital health interventions.” This was stated by Anupriya Patel, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare at the inaugural session of the ‘International Digital Health Symposium,’ recently. Anupriya Patel also inaugurated the exhibition on Digital Health as part of the Symposium, where participant countries along with various Government Ministries, states and other stakeholders showcased key innovations, implementation experiences and innovative Digital Health Interventions.
The Digital Health Symposium follows the two-day Global Digital Health Partnership (GDHP) summit and allows wide engagement with innovators, clinical leaders, academia, researchers, healthcare establishments, government representatives, international and national technical experts, entrepreneurs and the research community.
Upendra Yadav, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health, Nepal, Dr Arlindo Nascimento do Rosário, Minister of Health, Cape Verde, Dr Ulana Suprun, Minister of Health, Ukraine Mr Faizal Cassim, Deputy Minister of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous, Sri Lanka, Dr. Shah Mahir, State Minister of Health, Maldives also graced the inaugural session and reiterated their commitment towards the digital health agenda. Dr VK Paul, Member, NITI Aayog, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, World Health Organization, South-East Asia Region, Preeti Sudan, Secretary (Health) and Sanjeeva Kumar, AS, were also present at the Symposium
Anupriya Patel further stated that the Government’s policies have essentially included the affordability, accessibility and availability of healthcare services to all citizens as an action item. “We have successfully been able to provide healthcare to each citizen through various interventions. It is here we are leveraging digital health interventions to maximize the impact,” she added.
Dr. VK Paul, Member, NITI Aayog said that India is ready to take the big leap in digital health. “India shall soon be unveiling India’s National Health stack and is focused on creating digital revolution encompassing national nutrition mission, telemedicine and other interventions with focus on aspirational districts. We envision that by year 2022, all the 1.3 billion Indians will have digital health records,” Dr Paul elaborated.
Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh stated that adequate planning and designing with focus on people centered care, adhering to standard and guidelines and interoperable solutions, can save time and money. “WHO will facilitate the collaboration and to establish specific mechanism to centrally coordinate digital health to assist among key stakeholders in member states for sustainable introduction of digital technologies and maximize the use of digital health,” she mentioned.
Preeti Sudan stated that Ministers and government officials from over 34 countries attended the 4th Global Digital Health Partnership Summit, and the Delhi Declaration on Digital Health affirms the attainment of sustainable development goals and to improve the health and wellbeing of citizens through the best use of evidence based digital technologies. “The international symposium organized today further builds to discuss the impact of digital technologies on health systems and health services delivery,” she added.
The Symposium provided a forum to learn from key global leaders in the field of digital health and innovation. This was an opportunity for countries to showcase key innovations and share experiences of implementing digital health interventions for health systems strengthening Universal Health Coverage.
The Symposium held discussions on various themes such as futuristic health systems, challenges in health IT sector, privacy and security in the digital arena, Aadhaar and National Health Stack, innovation ecosystem, start-ups and AI for Health, Digital Health Innovations for transforming primary care, remote monitoring/wearables /IoT/Home-based care, National health information systems, financing digital health, public health surveillance systems, enabling environment for public-private partnerships in digital health, personalized precision medicine leading to possible policy interventions and clear outcomes.
Approximately 700 delegates including high level delegates from the government, stakeholders from academia, clinical leaders, government institutions, healthcare institutions, researchers, innovators, start-ups, entrepreneurs, non-governmental organization and industry participants from international, regional and national levels from the networks of individuals and organizations participated in the above symposium.


President launches countrywide Pulse Polio Programme for 2019

President Ram Nath Kovind launched the Pulse Polio programme for 2019 by administering polio drops to children less than five years old, at the Rahstrapati Bhawan, in the presence of J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare. The President administered the polio drops on the eve of the National Immunization Day. More than 17 crore children of less than five years across the country were given polio drops as part of the drive of Government of India to sustain polio eradication from the country.
Speaking at the function, the Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare J P Nadda said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Universal Immunization Programme is focusing to protect children from more diseases than ever before and has introduced several new vaccines like Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine, Rotavirus vaccine, and Measles-Rubella vaccine in the recent past. “To provide additional protection to our children, the Government has also introduced the injectable Inactivated Polio Vaccine into its routine immunization program,” Nadda added.
J P Nadda pointed out that the Government is making all efforts to protect children from more and more diseases and emphasized that all vaccines under the programme must reach every last child of the country. “Along with Universal Immunization Programme of the country, we have also launched Mission Indradhanush to accelerate our goal to achieve more than 90% full immunization coverage. More than 3.39 crore children and 87 lakh pregnant women have been vaccinated through Mission Indradhanush drives,” Nadda elaborated.
Nadda further informed that strengthening of immunization programme has contributed significantly to the decline of Infant Mortality Rate from 39 in 2014 to 32 per 1000 live births in 2017.
The Health Minister also appreciated the efforts of State Governments and the supporting organizations like WHO, UNICEF and Rotary International etc., for strengthening the efforts of the Government not only for polio programme but also for other initiatives in immunization. He also applauded the efforts of the thousands of volunteers, frontline workers, and health officials across the states for their tireless efforts in keeping the country polio-free. Also present at the function were Preeti Sudan, Secretary (HFW), senior officers of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and representatives of development partners.


DPSRU Hosts “Train The Trainer”Program for Design Thinking Impact 

The Delhi Pharmaceutical Science and Research University (DPSRU) organized the “Train the Trainer” program as a part of Designing Thinking Impact Week, in collaboration with reputed German Airline Lufthansa, recently. This was the first time when this prestigious program, anchored by Lufthansa, was organized in Asia. The aim of this week long workshop was to instill a creative and critical thinking mindset in key stakeholders of the academic ecosystem and accelerate the run-rate of innovation.
The workshop was divided into two phases: 1) Train the Trainer program where an International team of innovation experts enabled university faculty to teach Design Thinking. 2) A four day workshop where more than 150 students engaged in “Design Thinking Challenges” in diverse areas and developed solutions and business models. The coaches included those which were trained in Phase 1 of the program.
The Train the Trainer workshop was inaugurated by Professor Samir Brahmachari, former Director General CSIR, who was the Chief Guest for this program, along with Vijay Kumar, Director, MSME Development Institute; Professor Ramesh K Goyal, Vice Chancellor, DPSRU and Professor Harvinder Popli, Dean DPSRU and Director, DPSRU Innovation and Incubation Foundation.
Forty seven faculty members from DPSRU, College of Business Studies and Ambedkar University were trained in Design Thinking methodology.

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