Re: Quality of IIHMR training program. Response form IIHMR

[Guest guest]

Dear e FORUM Members,

I am deeply pained by the observations made by Dr. E.N. Sreejit on the taining

programmes organised by the IIHMR. Since, her comments have questioned the

quality of our training programmes and the usefulness of trainings per say, I am

compelled to respond.

1. Dr. E.M. Sreejit have never attended any training programme on " Surveillance

Monitoring and Evaluation of HIV/AIDS Programme " at the

institute. It is unfair of her part to comment on a programme, she has never

attended.

2. Instead, she has attended a programme on " Planning for Care and

Rehabilitation of People Living with HIV/AIDS " .

This programme was organised by the institute for the first time upon request

from several organisations. A lot of planning has gone into the designing of

this course, identifying the appropriate resource persons, developing the course

pack etc. Consultations were held with several subject specialists and programme

officials for finalising the course contents. It is desirable to mention here

that resource persons for this course were some of the best subject specialists

in the country, representing YRG Care, HIV/AIDS Alliance, Bhoruka Blood Bank,

SMS Hospital etc. Further, every topic mentioned in programme broacher was fully

covered during the training.

3. Every course organised by the institute is evaluated by the participants.

The feedback given by the participants for this course reflects that it has

been highly useful for more than 90 per cent of the participants. No body has

mentioned that the programme was poor in any respect.

4. Almost all the participants to the training programme were sponsored by

one or other organisation. There is no reason why any organisation

particularly, Ministry of Health in a neighboring country will sponsor one its

senior health officer, who is not aware of the mode of transmission of HIV/AIDS

and do not stand to benefit by participating in the programme on care and

support for PLHA. It is difficult accept that any country will sponsor ( from

its own resources) participants to an international training programme for

tourism. Such observations for one of our neighboring country are undesirable.

5 The referred training programme was highly participative. Even Dr. Srejit

has made very effective contribution to the discussions in the

workshop. Every morning, the topics covered on previous day were reviewed by

the participants themselves. If Dr. Sreejit was not satisfied with any of the

session, resource person or had different expectations, she could have easily

brought it to the notice of concerned person, and corrective measures could have

been taken. In fact, on the requests of participants, several additional

discussions were organized as a part of this course. I am astonished to see her

observations on this course after a gap of six months. Perhaps it is an after

thought for the reasons known to her only.

6. For the benefits of the forum members, I would like to mention that the

course on " Planning for Care and Support of People Living With HIV and AIDS " has

become one of the important training programme in the country. After the first

programme in Feb.2003, in Jaipur, a second training was held in September, 2003

in New Delhi. In the course feedback, It has been rated as an excellent

programme by all the participants. Letters of appreciations have come even after

participants have gone home( refer enclosed file). Incidentally, same resource

persons and course design were used for the second programme also.

Further, we have been flooded with the demands of organising this programme at

regional levels and at more frequent intervals. I am failed to understand how

Dr. Sreejit could so pessimistic about such a useful training programme.

7. Indian Institute of Health Management Research (IIHMR), Jaipur has been rated

as an Institute of Excellence by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,

Government of India. It works in close collaboration with WHO, World Bank,

UNFPA and several other international agencies for organising a number of

training programmes. Institute also conduct training programmes in partnership

with a number of bilateral organisations in India. It has built a reputation

and guards it jealously.

8. Nearly 30 training programmes are organised by the institute every year.

Every programme has to pass through several quality checks in terms of

contents, course material, resource persons etc. It is ensured that all the

topic announced in programme broacher are adequately covered.

We have been organising training programmes for the past several years. The

participants have come from all the countries of South and South East Asia.

Infact, several organisations are sending their officials to our trainings,

repeatedly. If the quality of our trainings is poor, no body would have come to

our programmes.

9. AIDS INDIA e FORUM is a good network for sharing of ideas, experience. I

would like to submit to the members of the forum to consider these facts while

looking into the remarks made by Dr. Sreejit .

10. Training is a continuous process of learning. We also learn from every

training organized by us and try to improve upon the next one. If Dr. Sreejt

believes that training programme attended by her is important , I invite her

to give her inputs to further strengthen this programme.

Thank you,

R.S. Goyal

E-mail: rsgoyal@...