Smt Preeti Sudan, Secretary (HFW) today launched the country’s first digital Online Oncology Tutorial Series designed by the Tata Memorial Center in collaboration with the Health Ministry. The oncology tutorial series aim to train the doctors across the country to educate them in early detection, prevention, palliation, rehabilitation and treatment of various cancers. This is part of a national program that will be rolled out across the country by Tata Memorial Centre in collaboration with state governments.
Speaking at the function, Smt Preeti Sudan, Secretary (HFW) said that this is a visionary step that will leverage advances in IT to strengthen health outreach and health services in the country. She further stated that this initiative will help the doctors upgrade their knowledge and skills regularly thereby taking care of obsolescence. This initiative can save many precious lives and improve quality of life of many more, the Health Secretary added. This course is intended for physicians, gynecologists, dentists and other healthcare professionals who are not oncologists, but can play a very crucial role in early detection and diagnosis of cancers. This will equip them with the skills and knowledge on basics of oncology to detect, diagnose and refer cancer cases early. The online video lectures are also designed to update oncologists with the evidence based guidelines and skill for the management of cancer.
The overall course is designed for 7 weeks with different modules based on various sites and sub-sites of Cancer. It comprises of 14 hours of comprehensive e-learning through more than 40 video lectures, case studies, assessment questionnaires and periodic interactive Webinar sessions with respective consultants of Tata Memorial Hospital.
Through this initiative, the Health Ministry and Tata Memorial Centre (a grant-in-aid cancer centre under Department of Atomic Energy, GOI), under the Digital India initiative of the Government of India will try to reach millions of doctors who may not have the time to attend physical conferences, CMEs and are busy working in rural or tier 2 cities. This tutorial also includes, blended learning delivery model with self-paced e-learning and/or periodic webinar interactions with expert consultants of Tata Memorial Hospital and Continuous scientific updates in Oncology, along with end-of-course Online Assessments with enhanced reporting for individuals.
Also present at the function were Dr. (Prof) Jagdish Prasad, DGHS, Sh. Sanjeeva Kumar, Additional Secretary (Health), Shri Manoj Jhalani (AS&MD, NHM), Smt Vandana Gurnani, Joint Secretary and Dr. Kailash Sharma (Director-Academics, Tata Memorial Hospital) among other senior officers and dignitaries from Tata Memorial Center and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The course can also be accessed at the link below: