Healthcare Sabha 2017 Discusses Blueprint For A Healthy India

Policymakers and opinion leaders come together at the event hosted by Express Healthcare to discover a cure for the problems ailing the current public healthcare system.

- Lakshmipriya Nair

‘Co-creating a Manifesto for a Healthy India’ was the theme for the second edition of Healthcare Sabha, – The National Thought Leadership Forum for Public Healthcare. Held at Novotel Varun Beach, in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, recently, it started off with a welcome address by Viveka Roychowdhury, Editor, Express Healthcare. She took the audience through the vision of the event and welcomed them to three days of knowledge sharing through debates and discussions on various aspects of public health.

Knowledge sharing galore

Union Minister for Health Dr JP Nadda’s video message also awaited the participants of Healthcare Sabha 2017. He congratulated The Indian Express Group and Express Healthcare for creating a platform like Healthcare Sabha and highlighted the need for such events to facilitate constructive dialogues between the stakeholders in the arena of public health.

It was followed by an interesting panel discussion on a crucial topic which has severe adverse effects on India’s goal to ensure Universal Health Coverage to its citizens – talent crunch. Moderated by Dr Farhat Mantoo, Regional Coordinator HR, MSF, South Asia, the session boasted of an eminent panel comprising Prof AK Mahapatra, Chief, Neuroscience Centre, AIIMS, Delhi; Dr Madhumita Dobe, Director- Professor & Dean, All India Institute of Public Health (AIIPH); Sudeep Srivastava, Director, Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY); Dr Pravin Shingare, Director, Directorate of Medical Education & Research, Maharashtra; and Dr DK Sharma, Medical Superintendant, AIIMS. The panelists discussed the topic in detail and deliberated on the ways to mitigate the talent crunch, both in terms of capacity and competence in public health.