Asian Research & Training Institute for Skill Transfer (ARTIST), a premier institute for learning based out of Bangalore has taken a huge leap by providing a packaged training programme through digital platform and leading Doctors from Karnataka attended the first ever such programme in the city.

Another team of doctors and nurses connected to the class digitally from Mumbai and with ECHO team in Delhi. ARTISTS aims to train healthcare providers on quality and affordable maternal care, contraceptives and better management of diabetes in Pregnancy, according to a release on December 18.

Manyata National Convener Dr Hema Divakar, speaking about collaborating with Project ECHO Zoom for the Manyata sessions, said, “Divakars Speciality Hospital is the first ever Manyata Centre in Karnataka and hopes to introduce digital platform for training teams from private sector providers pan Karnataka and beyond. The ECHO Zoom platform eliminates need to travel every month for the training. Healthcare providers can train at their Centres with faster turnaround time. We are aiming to certify 100 hospitals for Manyata in Karnataka in the next one year.”

Signifying the importance of introducing digital platforms in medical trainings and educations, Dr Hema said that “Project ECHO Zoom is smooth, sleek, easy to connect and converse. With its brilliant video conferencing features, it offers much more effective experiential connect with lesser cost and wider reach over massive scale. Tata Cancer Research Centre used to get approximately 1,42,000 patients in a month from across the country, many of whom had to travel for days, stand in queue for hours together just for a follow-up – these numbers have come down to 30,000 since the introduction of Project ECHO Zoom for empowering the local healthcare providers. We aim to take quality, affordable, maternal healthcare to even the most remote parts of Karnataka and slowly spread across India.”

Speaking on the occasion, FOGSI Vice President and ObGyn, KLE, Belagavi, Dr M G Hiremath said that "having seen the ground realities in rural India, where there are no specialists available, I’m all keen on supporting the initiative to skill frontline providers and to save lives." 

Speaking on the latest initiative of ARTIST in collaboration with Population Services International (PSI), Dr Hema, who is also CEO and Chairperson of ARTIST said that “Parivarthan is an initiative to bring about mindset change with the healthcare providers which caters to the changing lifestyle of today’s youth."

"There are currently 12 master trainer doctors in Bengaluru, who will train 100 doctors each, on building awareness on reproductive choices, knowledge, attitude and dispelling myths and misconceptions about contraception among gen next. These doctors will, in turn, reach out to schools and colleges to guide the youngsters on preventive methods, contraception, change in mindset, decision making, and accessible healthcare. PSI has been of great help in providing high-quality contraceptives at a nominal cost to the network hospitals. It will also assist in running a helpline on these issues.

In Phase 1, we aim to train 3000 doctors, who will reach out to 3000 schools and colleges”, she added. On the alarming increase in the rate of Diabetes among pregnant women Dr Hema said that “ approximately 1 in 5 women who develop diabetes during pregnancy go on to develop Type 2 Diabetes within the next 2-4 years. Diabetes is a real problem which needs many more healthcare providers to address in the correct manner. Therefore, we want to empower even the non-diabetic specialists like us ObGyns, to be diabetes educators so that we also know how to guide the women for its prevention and long-term care.”

Manyata aims to create a robust quality improvement and assurance system to help private maternity care facilities improve their quality of services and recognize those who consistently deliver quality care to the women they serve. Parivarthan is a collaborative initiative by PSI (Population Services International) and ARTIST. The project is about change in mindset of health care providers and youth of the country by building awareness, access and affordability for use of contraception.

The project which is piloting in Karnataka will train Doctors to implement contraceptive methods to plug the unmet needs of today’s youth. It also will address college students on #WhoDecides on what they eat, how they exercise and who is responsible for their reproductive decisions. 

Project ECHO is a collaborative model of medical education and care management that empowers clinicians everywhere to provide
better care to more people, right where they live. ARTIST aims to improve the capabilities and competencies of Obstetrics & Gynaecologists (ObGyns) in India.