IIHMR marks 34 Years of Excellence in Health Management Research and Education
New Delhi: Celebrating over three decades of excellence in service to Healthcare Management education and research, leading knowledge institution IIHMR University celebrated its 34th Foundation Day with great fanfare on the 5th of October, 2018. Addressing the young audience as Chief Guest was Dr. Vijay Agarwal, President of the Consortium of Accredited Healthcare Organizations and Co-Chairman, National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare of the Government of India.
Also present at the ceremony as the Guest of Honour, was noted playback singer, Deepika T of RangiTaranga fame. Special guests included Dr. Harsha Vardhan, Chairman of holistic healthcare platform, Med achievers and renowned Australian healthcare expert, Michael Koss. The evening, which began at 6.15 pm, with introductory addresses, Chief Guest’s address and a musical rhythm by the Guest of Honor was followed by a cultural program and the giving away of the Spark Award for Best Performance at the Peacock Garden of IIHMR University’s sprawling 15-acre Jaipur campus.
IIHMR was established in 1984 with the objective of creating capabilities in improving healthcare in India and other parts of the world through management education and research. IIHMR has been a WHO collaborating center for District level health systems focusing on primary healthcare, which is the first point of contact with medical services for the common man. It has also been deemed an ‘Institute of Excellence’ by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, GoI, for its unique role as a provider of the employment pool in healthcare leadership, strategic management, quality assurance, pharmaceutical and rural management.
Addressing the University’s staff and administration, IIHMR University, Jaipur, Chairman, Dr. S D Gupta said, “Despite having one of the largest healthcare systems in the world, valued at USD 61.79 billion in 2017, India continues to struggle to provide access to quality healthcare for all regardless of their economic status. The challenge for today’s healthcare leaders, public health researchers and rural development professionals is ensuring that no citizen is left behind in accessing quality healthcare at affordable costs. That is the direction IIHMR has been working in.”
On management education being imparted to students, IIHMR University, Jaipur, President, Dr. Pankaj Gupta said, “Leadership is all about service to society and developing and nurturing human beings. There are disparities in access to quality service in governance, medicines and healthcare. As managers and administrators, IIHMR’s students have been trained to think critically and cross-bred with theories from social and behavioral sciences. They are encouraged to think creatively and come up with solutions to problems that a whole industry faces. The key is not that they don’t’ make mistakes but that they recover from them and learn from them and keep on innovating.”
Dr. Vijay Agarwal, President , Consortium of Accredited Healthcare Organization India (CAOH) said, “IIHMR students are in the right course at the right time because of the global crisis in healthcare where 80.2 million global healthcare workers would be required by 2030 and 40 million new healthcare jobs would open up in India by 2020. Healthcare and associated social sectors are witnessing the highest growth.” At the same time, he listed communication, learning new languages, time management, innovative approaches, quest for knowledge, familiarity with technology and the desire for pursuing a selfless vocation as key qualities of a good healthcare manager. He stressed on the need to focus on primary healthcare and rural solutions to meet the objective of universal healthcare access. “The future healthcare customer will be more aware and informed and will want to be engaged and participate. At the other end, there will be people who will not be touched by such technology for the next 30-40 years. The new age healthcare manager will have to re-orient himself to meet this wide spectrum of consumers”, he added. He concluded by noting that India occupied the 112th position in healthcare system performance behind countries such as Bangladesh and offered to build synergies between CAHO and IIHMR.
The faculty and researchers working at the university come from varied backgrounds such as medicine, management, and the social and behavioral sciences. This disciplinary diversity enables students to obtain a holistic understanding of health, development, management and public policy. It continues to collaborate with globally recognized academic thought leaders such as the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health and various government bodies such as the NABH and the National Health Systems Resource Center.