UP: Doctors turn management students to improve health system

Lucknow, Dec 10: Next time you visit a government hospital in Uttar Pradesh, there are chances of you spending less time in consulting your doctor. You will be guided towards the right OPD with footmarks and nominal boards that will be put up to guide you.

This was one of the key process innovations suggested by mid-level medical officers, including chief medical officers and chief medical superintendents during a unique management development programme initiated by the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, and Johns Hopkins University, the US, in collaboration with the State Institute of Health and Family Welfare.

About 30 mid-level doctors from UP participated in the three-phase training, after which they came up with feasible solutions that can further improve the state’s health system.

The first cohort of doctors spent six days in person refresher training at IIML, where they learnt some didactic and practical lessons on systems thinking, problem-solving, managing quality, conflict management, management functions, and effective communications by the management gurus.

“The training catered to issues such as reducing maternity deaths and others. Participants were supposed to come up with the solutions using the training imparted to them in the first six days,” said chairperson, management development programme (MDP), IIML Prof. Nishant Uppal.

Principal secretary medical, health & family welfare, Partha Sarthi Sen Sharma said: “CMO and CMS require a different competencies like leadership, management and process change. This hybrid programme is helping us meet this need.”