‘Medical college by next academic session’

Admissions to the Nagaland Medical College, now renamed as Nagaland Institute of Medical Sciences & Research (NIMSR) at Phriebagie, Kohima district, would hopefully begin this year for the next academic session.
This was disclosed by the principal secretary health & family welfare (H&FW), Amardeep Singh Bhatia, on Thursday while speaking at the “Review of Social Health Responsibility Campaign”, an initiative of the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Kohima in collaboration with the district administration and Association of Kohima Municipal Wards Panchayat (AKMWP), which was held at Hotel De Oriental Grand, here Thursday. The campaign, which held on the theme “Leave no one’s health behind: invest in health systems for all”, was funded by National Urban Health Mission (NUHM), Nagaland.
Bhatia said that the state government, in order to get the medical college off ground, was putting in a lot of effort.
Disclosing that the entire road map has been laid down, the principal secretary said “we are hopeful we will be able to move an application to the regulatory agency—National Medical Commission (NMC). He also expressed hope that NMC will give the necessary permission.
At the government level, he said a lot of steps were being taken. “We have created 60 posts of senior faculty and process for recruiting other faculty has been initiated,” Bhatia said, adding “hopefully we will be able to have the admissions for the next academic session.”
Further, he disclosed a lot of work was going on a war footing to launch the Chief Minister’s Health Insurance Scheme. He said that the scheme aims to cover the entire population of the state, wherein at least Rs.5 lakh cover will be provided for any inpatient. He hoped that by October, the government would be able to launch the scheme.
In order to ensure that people keep getting right health facilities and treatment, he said the government was taking a lot of steps in addition to increasing the existing facilities.
Stating that the right message and the right treatment were very important, he expressed hope that the Social Health Responsibility Campaign was able to convey that.
Congratulating the team for carrying out the campaign in a short time, the principal secretary, however, suggested the need to expand the campaign further.
Speaking at the campaign review programme, CMO Kohima, Dr. Vezokholu Theyo, pointed out that mapping of co-morbid diseases prevalence in the community was conducted in 9243 houses across 42 colonies in Kohima town and 15,100 target population was identified (30 years and above).
Out of the total, CMO said 823 persons with known case of hypertension identified (5.45%), 710 persons with known case of diabetes identified (4.70%), 55 persons with known case of cancer identified (0.36%), 107 persons with known case of Kidney diseases identified (0.71%) and 40 persons with known case of TB identified (0.3%).
CMO stated that through the campaign certain corrective measures were adopted including
awareness generation (address misconception relating to government health facilities and providers
personal health/lifestyle etc.), provision of affordable and better access to health care, availability of drugs and consumables at the health units, regular supply of drugs and consumables, strengthen referral linkages and focus on quality training for health providers.
Also, speaking at the programme, the principal director H&FW, Dr. Vikato Kinimi, acknowledged the health workers for their effort. He said it was an effort to provide much-needed healthcare and treatment to the local populace against many commonly-occurring ailments, under CMO Kohima.
Earlier, state programme officer NUHM, Dr. Pusa Liegise, delivered welcome address while AKMWP president, Thejao Sekhose and chairman, ward 11, PWD shared their experiences.
The deputy commissioner (DC) Kohima, Gregory Thejawelie, gave closing remarks.