IIPH to set up Rs 140-crore campus in Orissa

Public Heath Foundation of India (PHFI), a registered society set up on the public private partnership mode and engaged in the training of public health professionals, will invest Rs 140 crore in setting up the Indian Institute of Public Heath (IIPH) in Orissa.

The IIPH in the state will come up on 40 acres of land to be provided free of cost by the Orissa government at Kumarabasta village near the city in Khurda district.

Initially, the IIPH will operate from a temporary campus in the city and the short-term training programmes will kick off from July this year.

The state government today inked an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with PHFI for setting up the institute which is set to be fully operational by the end of 2012.

The MoU was signed between Anu Garg, secretary, health and family welfare, Orissa government and K Srinath Reddy, president, PHFI at the state secretariat in the presence of state chief minister Naveen Patnaik, state minister for health and family welfare Prasanna Acharya and chief secretary T K Mishra.

Speaking on the occasion, Patnaik said, “PHFI shall work with the Orissa government to strengthen the overall public health system in the state. This will involve education, training and research on prioritized health problems of the state.”

“IIPH, in consultation with the state government, will impart training programmes for enhancing the capacity of the public health functionaries across all levels. The institute will offer Post-Graduate diploma programmes in Public Health Management, Health Economics, Health Care Financing, Health Policy, Biostatistics and Data Management. In addition, IIPH will conduct two-year diploma course in Public Health and Masters in Public Health”, he added.

“The vital health indicators like IMR and MMR (Maternal Mortality rate) have improved appreciably over the past few years. I am sure that the partnership between the state government and PHFI will go a long way in realizing the desired subjectives”, said Acharya. Reddy, the PHFI president, said, “Once the IIPH campus is fully operational, it will offer training short-term training programmes to 500 people and long-term training to 300 others.