J Alam, Dr. Soumya Chakraborty and other guests with
first-year MBBS students during the workshop at NIMSR, Kohima. (EM Images)
KOHIMA — Nagaland Chief Secretary J Alam has
said that the Nagaland Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (NIMSR) in
Kohima is “the pride of Nagaland” as the institute materialised after a lot of
efforts from the state government to produce the best quality doctors.
The chief secretary was speaking at a workshop on the
adoption of Industry 4.0 digital health solutions to address SDG 2030 gaps in
Nagaland, held at the NIMSR, on Monday.
Industry 4.0, or the Fourth Industrial Revolution, involves
3D printing, machine learning, and bringing everything together virtually to
provide efficient, cost-effective, and the best products and services to the
people.
“Today, technology aid in the health sector has become
critical. With the aid of technology if diagnosis can be made as accurate as
possible, then it will save lives and improve the quality of the people.
“This kind of workshop opens our mind and helps our thinking
as to how we can utilise this technology and how we can use these products and
services for the betterment of people,” the chief secretary said.
Alam also shared that as far as Nagaland is concerned, it
struggles sometimes with “previous generations’ issues,” including electricity
and telecom connectivity, especially in remote villages.
“On paper, it says the state became fully electrified in
2018, the deadline as set by the Government of India. But the question is
whether the electricity poles and wires provided are functioning or not,” he
asked.
“The other part is the provision of telecom facilities or
internet facilities. The Education statistics showed not more than 50 percent
of schools in Nagaland have telecom services and connectivity. Out of
approximate 1400 villages in Nagaland, 350 villages in Nagaland are without 4G
connectivity.”
The chief secretary however assured that the government is
trying to provide all these basic facilities to remotest places and that the
Telecom department had informed him that internet connectivity will be provided
to all the villages in Nagaland under the Universal Service Obligation Fund
(USOF).
Alam went on to state that things are happening in Nagaland,
particularly in field of health, in the past years. To some extent, fighting
with COVID-19 pandemic gave the state an opportunity to improve health
infrastructure and a lot of funding also came in, he added.
Noting that the state is deficient in the number of doctors,
nurses and other health workers, he told the students that the state is eagerly
waiting for them to complete their degrees and join health infrastructure in
Nagaland, to provide services to people.
Through the launching of the Chief Minister Health Insurance
Scheme (CMHIS), the state has taken care of health affordability to its
citizens but availability of the infrastructure to all has to be taken into
consideration, he said.
Maintaining that the state has still a lot to do, he urged
the medical students to come up with new innovations, think creatively and
critically for better services to the people.
Dean-cum-director of NIMSR, Dr. Soumya Chakraborty spoke
about the importance of digital health solutions and the country’s effort
through various platforms including Saksham.
Chakraborty said Saksham is a platform not only for
healthcare professionals and givers but a learning platform for medical
students.Saying that the students are
tomorrow’s doctors, she encouraged them to keep learning and utilise those
platforms.
Healthcare professionals may not reach the rural village
because of the challenging situation, but by using platforms like tele medicine
services, they can interact with the rural populace.
“Nobody should be left out because health is right and we
must take care of that by providing the best. We should be sincere enough for
that purpose,” she added.
Anand, Advisor of Assam Electronics Development Corporation
Limited (AMTRON), spoke on the fast changing nature in healthcare system with
the digital health solutions. He observed that technology can change people
wherever they are and that doctors can treat anybody anywhere in the world
today.
