IIM Raipur, Digital Health Associates to set Centre for Health, Innovation, Policy and Digital Health

Raipur: IIM Raipur has partnered with Digital Health Associates (DHA) to set up the consulting arm, Centre for Health, Innovation, Policy and Digital Health (CHIP-DH). Given the massive push from the government on the Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojna( PM-JAY) and the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), India will need niche expertise at all levels in the leadership chain to fully leverage the potential of technology and Innovation for healthcare transformation. The CHIP-DH will likely serve the private and public sectors by leading an ecosystem approach to digital transformation through innovative projects and programmes.

Dr Rajendra Pratap Gupta, Former Advisor, Union Health Minister and Founder, Digital Health Associates Private Limited, will be the Chair-Emeritus of the newly formed centre. Various state governments have evinced interest in engaging CHIP-DH to review their schemes and help in programme assessment and design.

This centre, a first of its kind in the country, will help shape innovative programmes and policies and fill a massive void in public sector consulting, which multinationals have dominated so far. Besides, this centre will be based on a twin mix of ground-level realities and global expertise to bring the best from the world to India to redefine the implementation of innovative projects.

In 2022, IIM Raipur partnered with DHA to start a postgraduate course in Digital Health, which is training about 100 leaders to lead the global transformation of healthcare. Recently, IIM-Raipur announced a course for hospital founders and CEOs to help small hospitals transition to smart hospitals. More courses will be started in the near future.

Prof Ram Kumar Kakani, Director, IIM-Raipur, commenting on the development, stated, "IIM-Raipur has identified healthcare as one of the focus areas, and when the proposal came to set up the first centre of its kind; we took this opportunity for partnership. I believe that healthcare needs breakthrough Innovation, and we will make it happen through this centre."

Dr Gupta believes that this centre will lead the thought leadership for healthcare innovation in India and neighbouring countries. It will help create an innovation ecosystem and build the capacity for healthcare transformation. He added, "We are super excited to partner with the fantastic team at IIM Raipur and hope to roll out innovative programmes in the next three months."