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Kerala government looks to Warwick Medical School for new healthcare model

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Warwick Medical School is helping the Indian state of Kerala redevelop its healthcare system.

Kerala has the highest literacy rate and the highest life expectancy in India but is experiencing an increase in non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, a rapidly ageing population and an increase in migrant workers. To address this, Kerala’s government is planning to establish training programmes to teach primary care workers such as GPs and nurses.

Kerala’s Minister of Health and Social Justice, Mrs KK Shylaja Kumari, led a delegation to the the University of Warwick this week to learn about how the GP system has adapted to pressures caused by population changes and to explore opportunities for collaboration for training and research.

The five-strong group included Mr Rajeev Sadanandan, additional chief secretary to the government's health and family welfare department; Dr Sarita RL, director of health services; Dr Harikumar Nair, the dean of Kerala University of Health Sciences; and Dr Devkiran of the mission monitoring team.

Professor Sudhesh Kumar, Dean of Warwick Medical School, said:

“We were delighted to host the Hon Minister for Health, Govt of Kerala and her team as they seek to understand how we are tacking issues such as addressing capacity development for primary care, translating research into practice and evaluating the impact of these interventions. We look forward to mutually beneficial collaborations with the State of Kerala.

"The two-day event incorporated areas of training and research being conducted at Warwick Medical School such as health issues in urban settlements, primary care and mental health resource in India, GP training and postgraduate training.”

The visit also included a tour of University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust, the surgical training suite run jointly by the Trust and Warwick Medical School, and two general practices in Coventry.