Referring to the Gorakhpur hospital tragedy to explain the ways of strengthening the health system, Arun Kumar Aggarwal, Professor, Department of Community Medicine of PGIMER in Chandigarh, on Tuesday called for a root cause analysis of the problem and find appropriate solutions.
Dr. Aggarwal, who was the chief guest at the first National Workshop on Health System Strengthening hosted by Jipmer, said that the one of the problems at the Gorakhpur hospital was the shortage of oxygen supply. “This is a procurement problem. This is vital and needs urgent action,” he says.
He added that whether this was due to lack of management or communication, the root cause of the problem should be identified. “Instead of jumping to conclusions and suspending the staff, the problem must be analysed and a solution should be found,” he said.
The four-day workshop will help focus on communication between doctors and patients to resolve conflicts within the team and strengthen the service.
“Participants will be exposed to these skills. They will be given exercises that will allow them to discuss the practical problems and solutions for it. There will also be sessions on how to use human resources and information technology to organise services and how to involve people in delivering them,” he said.
Dr. S.C. Parija, Director, Jipmer said that change in mindset should be the objective of the workshop. “We should be able to take up the challenge in every situation we work,” he said.
Dr. Parija inaugurated the workshop in the presence of K.C. Premarajan, Professor and Head of the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Gautam Roy, Senior Professor, Department of Preventive and Social Medicine.