Public Health Education

In their article “India Badly Needs Public Health Education” (EPW, 8 July 2017), Rajesh Kumar Rai and Theodore Herzl Tulchinsky strongly advocate for the introduction of public health training at the undergraduate level in India. I must congratulate the authors for pitching the introduction of this undergraduate course with conviction in their article.

However, the authors seem to have avoided certain basic, yet important points. As per the article, there are only 23 institutions in India currently offering master of public health (MPH) degrees. But, in addition to this, there are more than 900 medical postgraduate seats in community medicine, as well as 90 seats for a diploma, which offers a comprehensive postgraduate training in public health and is recognised by the Medical Council of India (MCI). Still, only a few state governments utilise the services of these trained public health professionals. Thus, without a proper demand from within the public health system, merely improving supply is not going to work.