Australian health delegation participates in first Joint Working Group meeting in Delhi
An Australian health delegation led by Maria Jolly, First Assistant Secretary, Australian Department of Health was in New Delhi this week to take part in the first Joint Working Group meeting under the Australia-India MoU on Cooperation in the Field of Health and Medicine. The MoU was signed during the visit of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in April 2017.
The delegation had productive exchanges with India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on a range of areas including mental health, cancer, stroke, digital health programs, drug and medical devices regulation. The delegation also had the opportunity to visit a Primary Health Care Centre in Dujana, Jhajha District to see an innovative non-communicable diseases screening program in action at village level.
The George Institute, together with the Pt. B. D. Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) and District health authorities, has empowered Accredited Social Health Activists to screen villagers for high blood pressure and diabetes risk. The health workers use a mobile device-based app – ‘SMARThealth’--that assesses whether or not a patient needs to be referred to a doctor.