FRIDAY, JUNE 06, 2025
Nagaland Institute of Medical Sciences and Research ‘pride of Nagaland’ — Chief Secretary
Published on Jan 21, 2025
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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.
Nagaland Districts
