Nodal Officers Research Articles

A12710 Collaborating with state governments for building capacity of medical officers in the management of hypertension and its complications

Objectives: To improve the knowledge and skills of government medical officers in the management of hypertension and related complications using a multiple stakeholder model for capacity building. Methods: Public Health Foundation of India, International Society of Hypertension, British Hypertension Society and Centre for Chronic Disease Control jointly developed and delivered a countrywide program for primary care physicians. The course was later adopted by three state governments in India (Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya and Tripura) under the National Health Mission for training of their respective medical officers. The curriculum was developed by international societies and contextualized by a panel of national experts. This was later delivered by faculty nominated by the state. The course had a strong built-in monitoring and evaluation component that assured standardized delivery and quality of the program. Results: A total of 213 participants were trained in the state of Madhya Pradesh and were posted at their respective health centres as NCD nodal officers post-training. Over 90% of the medical officers trained felt that the course improved their knowledge and confidence in the management of hypertension. In the state of Meghalaya, 20 medical officers are currently undergoing training. The state government of Tripura will nominate 40 medical officers to be trained in the course. Conclusion: Building capacity of primary care physicians could help reduce the burden on the government tertiary care system and also help strengthen state primary health systems. The model presented can be easily adopted by other state governments as well as low and middle income countries that have similar health system settings.

Surveillance, Evaluation of Programmatic Management of Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (PMDT) at DR-TB Centre, NITRD, New Delhi

Background: PMDT was launched in 2007 in our country but drug resistant TB remains to be a public health problem. Effective surveillance is the backbone for success of any programme and true stands for PMDT. Aim & Objectives: To identify the strengths and constraints of the surveillance evaluation system. Material & Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in January 2015 at DR-TB Centre of NITRD, New Delhi which caters to a population of 29 lacs. PMDT surveillance system was evaluated using attributes like simplicity, data quality, acceptability, positive predictive value, representativeness and timeliness defined by CDC, USA guidelines. Relevant information was collected using data abstraction form and interview with stakeholders. Data was analysed using EpiInfo 07 version. Results: Nodal officer and District TB officer are responsible for surveillance system activities of PMDT at DR-TB centre and district level, respectively. All the reports (100%) were submitted on time and all the districts were reporting to DR-TB centre. 75% of TB-HIV coordinators found reporting formats to be simple but all the quarterly reports were found to be complete. Data quality was not found to be optimal. Conclusion: Private sector needs to be taken on board as they have no to minimal involvement in PMDT. For data quality improvement time to time training of medical officers and health workers should be organized.

Evaluation of telemedicine centres in Madhya Pradesh, Central India

In a developing country such as India, there is substantial inequality in health care distribution. Telemedicine facilities were established in Madhya Pradesh in 2007–2008. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the infrastructure, equipment, manpower, and functional status of Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) telemedicine nodes in Madhya Pradesh. All district hospitals and medical colleges with nodes were visited by a team of three members. The study was conducted from December 2013–January 2014. The team recorded the structural facility situation and physical conditions on a predesigned pro forma. The team also conducted interviews with the nodal officers, data entry operator and other relevant people at these centres. Of the six specialist nodes, four were functional and two were non-functional. Of 10 patient nodes, two nodes were functional, four were semi-functional and four were non-functional. Most of the centres were not working due to a problem with their satellite modem. The overall condition of ISRO run telemedicine centres in Madhya Pradesh was found to be poor. Most of these centres failed to provide telemedicine consultations. We recommend replacing this system with another cost effective system available in the state wide area network (SWAN). We suggest the concept of the virtual out-patient department.

Road map to organ donation in Tamil Nadu: an excellent model for India.

Road map to organ donation in Tamil Nadu: an excellent model for India.

Web-based networking of herbal gardens for exchange of planting material

In recent years the demand for medicinal and aromatic plants has grown rapidly at national and international level because of it a vital role in supply nutrients as well as strengthen human’s various VITAL systems to protect from innumerous diseases. The collection, conservation and exchange of planting material of medicinal plants are some of the major problems in this sector. Taking these things into consideration, a web based network of Herbal Garden in India (HGI) has been designed and developed at Directorate of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Research (DMAPR), Anand, Gujarat, India. HGI is a web based decision making system and provides information about the herbal gardens in India and facilitates the exchange of planting material. HGI has been developed using Tomcat6, Struts 2.0, JavaScript & MySQL and hosted at http://www.herbalgardenindia.org. System has been designed using modular approach and has separate modules for garden curators (nodal officers) and general users. Nodal officers have the right to insert, edit/update and delete data related to their respective gardens. General users have the flexibility to access the information about the herbal gardens of India and the system facilitate to approach nearby garden for the required planting material.

EVALUATION OF DIET, LIFE STYLE AND STRESS IN THE ETIOPATHOGENESIS OF CONSTIPATION IN GERIATRIC PEOPLE

EVALUATION OF DIET, LIFE STYLE AND STRESS IN THE ETIOPATHOGENESIS OF CONSTIPATION IN GERIATRIC PEOPLE Lingu Inya*, Kulkarni Prasad V, Tanna Ila, Chandola H M Medical Officer cum Nodal Officer (Ayurveda), AYUSH Branch, Directorate of Health Services, Naharlagun, Arunachal Pradesh, India MD (Ayu) Scholar, Dept of Kayachikitsa, IPGT and RA, Jamnagar, India Ph.D. Scholar, Dept of Roga Nidana and Vikriti Vijnana, IPGT and RA, Jamnagar, India Professor and Head, Kayachikitsa and Roga Nidan and Vikriti Vijnana, IPGT and RA, Jamnagar, India

Tackling emerging outbreaks of infectious diseases: Preparedness for H1N1 Influenza in emergency department of a tertiary care institute of India

With the threat of the emerging and reemerging infections (especially viral), it is time to gear up our health care facilities to tackle this menace. This short observational study conducted in the Out Patient Department of Emergency Department (ED), Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh in the month of August to October 2009 was done to analyze the efforts of preparedness of a pioneer institute of India PGIMER, Chandigarh when threatened by epidemic of H1N1 influenza. The information on existing policy, planning and it’s implementation regarding H1N1 were obtained. Data pertaining to infrastructural facilities, overcrowding and patient flow in the ED of PGIMER with respect to tackling of infectious outbreaks especially H1N1 influenza was collected. The data was also taken from laboratory registers of biochemistry and hematology labs present within the ED. The hospital census data pertaining to ED was obtained and analyzed. It was observed that the planning regarding pandemic influenza was initiated in PGIMER in August 2009, two months after first case of H1N1 was detected in Chandigarh. A multidisciplinary committee was constituted. Nodal officers were identified and channel of flow of information within the hospital and with the local health departments was established. A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) was developed for managing H1N1 patients. PGIMER regularly updated its H1N1 plans in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW). According to “hospital pandemic influenza planning checklist” by Centre of Disease Control, Atlanta, PGI fared well. Though the efforts were started late, but these were satisfactory. However, it was observed that ED had overcrowding, non- systematic patient flow, high patient load and high Average Length of Stay (AL S). The hospital ED was reasonably well prepared to tackle H1N1 situation except few lacunae at the policy and implementation level that needed to be addressed immediately.