The JIPMER International School of Public Health (JISPH) is spreading the wings of its rural outreach initiatives to raise the health status of the population in Edaikazhinadu town panchayat in Kancheepuram district.
Focus over 24 villagesBeing run with the help of JIPMER alumni, the programme, named ‘Uluru Health Care Project’, will initially focus on a population of about 32,000 spread over 24 villages.
The choice of this region is to build on the work done by Alumni foundation, The East West Foundation of India, for over two decades. It is proposed to leverage mobile health (m-health) technology during the camps visit, for bringing expert services to community as well as monitoring of medical conditions by remote presence.
“We have already started to develop some health services delivery solutions by building ‘cohorts’, wherein populations will be grouped for risk assessment and longitudinal follow up.
Now JIPMER is spreading its wings to reach out to its alumni and enhance our relationships with Tamilnadu Health Systems Project to help in moving the needle in population Health” said Dr. T.S. Ravikumar, JIPMER Director.
This follows discussions the JIPMER chief had with the Tamil Nadu Health Secretary recently.
For the first medical camp being held in the town panchayat on Friday, Dr. Ravi Kumar and
Dr. Prabhu Clement Devadoss, Expert Advisor, NCD Projects will lead a team of 30 JIPMER faculty, social workers and staff to Edaikazhinadu.
The outreach initiative forms part of JIPMER’s philosophy of stepping beyond merely producing graduates of its Masters in Public Health programme at JISPH, and rather become a hub for implementing universal health care concepts and driving health service delivery innovations.
“JIPMER will also enhance its rural and urban health centres concurrently and is exploring further outreach with the goal of population wellness in the regions of Puducherry andTamil Nadu,” Dr. Ravikumar said.
