PHFI and IIPHs Working For Covid-19

Indian Institute of Public Health, Bhubaneswar (IIPHB)

Under the leadership of Dr Subhash Salunke, Director – IIPHB and Senior Advisor – PHFI, the Indian Institute of Public Health Bhubaneswar is providing technical and managerial support to Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Odisha on all aspects of COVID19. In addition to Odisha, Dr Salunke being the chair and member of various committees providing technical support to Government of Maharashtra and Government of India. Following are the key activities providing support to Government of Odisha.

  1. IIPHB is one of the 13 member expert group formed during a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary, Government of Odisha. We are giving technical inputs to Government of Odisha on all aspects of COVID19. This group operates through a WhatsApp group, telephone and emails.
  2. IIPHB developed and shared a planning tool for containment and mitigation of COVID19 at state and district level.
  3. IIPHB developed and shared tentative epidemiological prediction model graphs for future planning of containment and mitigation (shared with only Health Secretary for planning purpose and not for public use to avoid panic).
  4. IIPHB shared experiences of Maharashtra for learning and decision making e.g. engaging private sector.
  5. IIPHB did advocacy for ensuring safety of health staff and suggested approaches for that.
  6. IIPHB is member of training committee for capacity building of medical and paramedical staff of public and private sector including undergraduates through online courses on COVID offered by Government of Odisha. This group operates through a WhatsApp group, telephone and emails.
  7. IIPHB will coordinate capacity building of undergraduate nursing students of both public and private sector through online courses offered by Government of Odisha.
  8. IIPHB estimated human resource requirement for a proposed 100 bed COVID hospital. Also shared the costing estimates per bed per day.
  9. IIPHB is regularly sharing the guidelines of MOHFW, GOI and their update with Government of Odisha.
  10. IIPHB is analysing epidemiological data on testing and case detection in other states and sharing with Government of Odisha for learning and decision making.
  11. In the current academic year, IIPHB has 30 in service doctors as students of Post Graduate Diploma in Public Health Management (PGDPHM) and 14 senior doctors as students of Certificate Course in Public Health Management (CCPHM). In consultation with Government of Odisha, the classes of both the course has been suspended and these officers has been sent back to their original duty stations to work for COVID19 pandemic. The faculties are sharing ground level experiences gained through the network of PGDPHM and CCPHM alumni and students at district and peripheral level and also providing mentoring to these alumni and students.
  12. IIPHB is also doing community practice through opinion article on economics and COVID through print media.
  13. IIPHB is supporting on any other requests made by Govt of Odisha.