TN-Singapore healthcare programme helped co-learning

It was the state’s expressed interest in improving the standards of health sector to international standards that attracted the foreign partners, Singapore International Foundation, said Jaryll Chan from the foundation. He was speaking at the ‘leaders’ dialogue’ event that was held in the city on Friday to mark the conclusion of the programme.

In the first phase of the programme, they conducted pilot projects at Tiruchirappalli, Kancheepuram and Pudukottai districts. “We conducted training-of-trainers clinical workshops for nearly 800 nurses, officials and public health leaders to equip them with necessary skills and knowledge to improve their practice and train others in the state. Of them, 25 master trainers were selected to come to Singapore and experience the methods there. Now that the programme has come to an end, it’s the state government’s responsibility to pass on the training to the other districts,” added Chan.

According to state government officials, the healthcare practitioners in the teaching hospitals were trained under this programme. Due to this, officials added, at least 100,000 pregnant mothers and new-borns at hospitals and health centres in the three target districts would receive improved treatment and management of their conditions, ensuring a better quality of life for both the mothers and children.

“There was an element of co-learning over the course of this project. We also brought our junior colleagues and trainees here, who learnt how to work with less resources but still achieve the best results,” said Shah Jahan Tajudeen, a member of the foundation from Singapore. The experts in Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, were able to work on establishing primary and tertiary care facilities as is done in Singapore.

Over the last few decades, the state has made commendable progress in improving the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), and has fixed targets of 10 per 1,000 live births (IMR) and 40 per 1,00,000 live births (MMR) by 2023.