Chandigarh: Workshop on communicating science for policy making held

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 25

An international workshop was today organised on “Communicating Science for Policy Making: A Health Technology Assessment Perspective” that received attention from experts and institutions from both the country and abroad.

The Regional Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Resource Centre, Department of Community Medicine and School of Public Health at PGIMER, Chandigarh. The participants delved deep into discussions about the effective communication of scientific evidence for policy making, particularly in healthcare.

Prof Vivek Lal, director of PGIMER Chandigarh, commended valuable contributions of Ayushman Bharat in enhancing healthcare services in the country.

Dr Basant Garg, Additional CEO of the National Health Authority, emphasised how the evidence from Health Technology Assessment (HTA) is employed to design the Ayushman Bharat scheme and determine pricing. Anu Nagar, Joint Secretary in the Department of Health Research, highlighted how HTA evidence on sickle cell disease screening significantly reduced costs by over 1,500 crore.

Dr Arun Aggarwal, Head of the School of Public Health, reiterated importance of fostering collaboration between researchers and policy makers for effective knowledge translation.

The workshop was attended by 20 distinguished resource persons from five countries such as Colombia, Thailand, the UK, along with more than 150 participants from medical colleges and institutions in India.

Besides, the workshop proved to be a crucial platform for fostering collaboration, sharing experiences, and exploring innovative strategies in communicating scientific evidence for policy making in the realm of health technology assessment.

About The Author

Tribune News Service

The Tribune News Service brings you the latest news, analysis and insights from the region, India and around the world. Follow the Tribune News Service for a wide-ranging coverage of events as they unfold, with perspective and clarity.