The Principal Secretary to the Health Department, Sampath Kumar, has issued a rejoinder after a section of the press raised questions regarding the functioning of the Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH) Shillong.
The IIPH has been in the news of late after a row blew up between it and the Director of Health Services, Dr Aman Warr. A media report published today questioned why the IIPH is having its degrees awarded by Martin Luther Christian University.
In a release last night, Kumar said that IIPH Shillong was established jointly by the Meghalaya government and Public Health Foundation of India.
“It is now run by the IIPH Shillong Society registered under the Societies Registration Act 1983,” Kumar, the society chairperson, said.
The institution has a mandate for public health research and its projects are funded by international and national external grant agencies. The other mandate is to provide public health training for state government health cadres. In consideration of its mandate to contribute to public health, the government provided physical facilities to IIPH Shillong. These facilities are housing high-level research labs and classrooms for public health education.
Kumar informed that the institute contributed greatly to Meghalaya’s fight against Covid-19. The pandemic also “taught the entire world” about the importance of public health and the need to have a collaborative approach between health service providers, researchers and public health experts, he added.
Students of IIPH Shillong are admitted and registered with MLCU and institute staff are adjunct faculty of MLCU, which is permitted by the University Grants Committee, Kumar explained. University status is required for granting degrees and the “interim arrangement” with MLCU mirrors that of NEIGRIHMS, which tied up with NEHU for medical degrees.
“In the meantime the state government is in the process of upgrading the IIPH Shillong into a university. The proposal for setting up of this public health university on the lines of IIPH Gandhinagar is under active consideration of the state government to be placed before the cabinet for final decision on this,” Kumar added.
