Shillong, August 31:The present Director, Dr. D. M. Thappa joined NEIGRIHMS in the month of April 2017 with a clear vision of improving Healthcare services in the institute. Although predecessors had done wonderful job to bring the NEIGRIHMS to its present position but still many areas needed more attention. With this Aim in mind, present Director laid his stress on improving the research activities, faculty development programmes, infrastructure development and employees welfare.
During 2017-18 many workshops, Continuing Medical Education (CMEs) and conferences were conducted by various Departments. To name a few, workshops on Bioethics, good clinical practices, research methodology, and national level conferences by the Department of Pathology and Dermatology were conducted. Undergraduates were also encouraged to have an exposure for undergraduate conferences and it happened in reality when 1st UGCON, undergraduate MBBS student’s conference was first time conducted in NEIGRIHMS from 17th to 19th August 2018.
To strengthen the Research activities in NEIGRIHMS, a research division was established for the first time in 2017. The Ethical Committee of the institute was recognised by the Drug Controller General of India by the persistent efforts of the research section in 2017. With this recognition of the Ethics Committee, clinical trials can now also be carried out in NEIGRIHMS which can help us to recognise the research potential of this institute in the coming years.
Animal ethics recognition was also renewed in the mean time. Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART) center non-existent in NEIGRIHMS some time before has been established to provide treatment to the concerned category of patients of HIV. ICTC/ SRL Labs got NABL Accreditation.
The Centralised gas manifold is very vital for a hospital, but unfortunately because of one or the other reason, it was not in place for last so many years since the institute was commissioned. With the result there was always apprehension of sudden shortage of Oxygen supply as the refilling of Oxygen cylinders is being done in Guwahati. Now, fortunately our hectic efforts have borne fruits and the work on centralised Oxygen supply and other gases has been started. The centralised gas manifold in NEIGRIHMS will be a reality in coming days.
Due to the broad prospective futuristic approach by our Engineering wing under the direct supervision of Deputy Director Administration, construction of Medical college building, Nursing college building, Research Cancer center and student hostels is going on at expected pace. The construction of these buildings was started in the month of March 2017 and 40% of construction work of Medical College and Regional Cancer center is already over and is expected to be completed by October 2019.
Nursing College is more than 60% complete and is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Expansion of the infrastructure will help a lot in improving the patient care activities particularly the Regional cancer center will be a boon for the patients of this region suffering from this dreaded disease who are presently forced to visit far away places for the treatment.
Administration of the institute is holding regular review meeting with the agencies who are undertaking the construction work on this project so as to ensure that the facilities are handed over to us in time. The institute is also in a process of acquiring additional land for expansion of the facilities and the process is in the final stage. With the acquiring of additional land many problems of accommodating valuable workforce of the institute will be addressed. Paramedical school and Dental College will also be established there.
The objective of recognition of various MD courses is being accomplished one by one and this year, two Departments, Radio-diagnosis Department and Pathology Department got recognition from MCI for MD courses in NEIGRIHMS. This is in addition to the departments already recognised by MCI. Efforts to get MCI recognition for MD programme in other Departments is underway and the Administration of the institute is leaving no stone unturned to get the recognition done of the degrees provided in NEIGRIHMS.
Various Departments are also in the process of starting MD/MS programmes in near future like ENT Department, Forensic Medicine Department and Dermatology Department. Next in the queue in starting MD/MS programmes are Departments like Ophthalmology, Pharmacology and Community Medicine. Some hitches here and there in getting MCI recognition and starting the Post-Graduate Programmes are looked into meticulously and being addressed accordingly.
Faculty interviews were conducted on 1st and 2nd May 2018 so as to fill up vacant faculty post in various Departments, approval of the Selection Committee recommendations in this regard is expected very soon. The 7th Pay Commission recommendations of the faculty are implemented in the institute and the faculty is getting the salaries as per the 7th Pay Commission from the month of July. The assessment promotion scheme not held for past so many years is being pursued vigorously and if all goes as expected, this long pending due demand of faculty shall be addressed soon.
