In a landmark development for Meghalaya, Chief Minister Dr Donkupar Roy on Monday laid the foundation stone of the first Indian Institute of Public Health in the North-East and the fourth such institute in the country at Mawdiangdiang here.

LAYING THE FOUNDATION: (From the Left) Shri Ranjan Chatterjee IAS, Chief Secretary, Meghalaya; Dr. Donkupar Roy, Chief Minister of Meghalaya; Dr. A Pariong, Health Minister, Meghalaya.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to that effect was signed between the Meghalaya Government represented by Chief Secretary Ranjan Chatterjee and Dr Srinath Reddy of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) in the presence of the Chief Minister and State Planning Board Chairman PA Sangma.

The institute is to be established on State and Public Private Partnership at an estimated cost of Rs 100 crore at Mawdiangdiang, the proposed new satellite township of Shillong.
The State government has already provided land free of cost and accorded an initial 22.03 acres.

AT THE PROPOSED IIPH SITE IN SHILLONG: (From the Left) Dr. Donkupar Roy, Chief Minister of Meghalaya; Dr. A Pariong, Health Minister, Meghalaya; Shri P A Sangma, Chairman, State Planning Board, Meghalaya; Dr. K Srinath Reddy, President, PHFI; Shri Ranjan Chatterjee IAS, Chief Secretary, Meghalaya.

The IIPH will carry out research on various health issues, besides providing health management training.

Dr. K S Reddy said the institute would serve the people in ameliorating various health-related problems, including Malaria and TB, in the North East.

''The IIPH's mission is to benchmark quality standards for public health education, establish public health institutes of excellence based on these standards, undertake meaningful public health research and advocate for public policy linked to broader public health goals,'' he said.

Similar health institutes have also been set up at Gandhinagar, Hyderabad and Delhi, while the Centre has proposed to set up such institutes in Punjab, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Orissa.

Speaking at the meeting before signing of the (MoU), Chief Minister Dr Roy said there was urgent need for such research centres to find out whether the high incidence of cancer in Meghalaya and the North East is linked to prevalent food habits.

He also pointed out that water sources particularly in the coal belt areas had become contaminated with sulphuric acid and other similar elements which could possibly account for the rise in cancer related cases.

The presence of an institute of the stature of PHFI and its research wing would help in establishing the exact cause, Dr Roy added.

"The State still lags behind in areas of health management and education and I am confident that the setting up of PHFI in Shillong would definitely help to bridge this gap," Dr Roy said.

Echoing the same views, State Planning Board Chairman PA Sangma said there was an urgent need to start research on malaria and cancer as there was a rise in the number of deaths related to both these diseases.

Prof K Srinath Reddy said the IIPH was conceptualised as a response to the emerging public health challenges and concerns in the country.

"IIPH recognises the fact that meeting the shortfall of health professionals is imperative to a sustained and holistic response to the public health concerns in the country. This in turn requires health care to be addressed from both the scientific perspective of what works and also from the social perspective of who needs it the most" Prof Reddy said.

Chief Secretary Ranjan Chatterjee informed that the target to complete this Rs 100-crore project is 48 months though "We are working on a schedule of 36 months". He informed that 15 per cent of the seats in the institution would be reserved for students from the State adding that they would also avail the fees at a concessional rate.

Until completion of a permanent infrastructure, the State Government is planning to start the institute at a temporary site in Shillong, the Chief Secretary said.

It may be mentioned that Union Minister of State for Power and Commerce, Jairam Ramesh, had during his visit to Shillong in October 2007, mentioned at a public meeting that he had taken personal initiative to persuade the Public Health Foundation of India to set up its centre for North-East in Shillong.

Speaking to The Shillong Times from Delhi on Monday, Mr Ramesh said, "I feel a deep sense of gratification that an issue that I have single-mindedly pursued has now fructified. I hope it meets the public health needs in the region," he added.