BENGALURU, India | 24th December 2021: While the world is increasingly moving towards digitalization because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Bengaluru-based ARTIST for Her (Asian Research and Training Institute for Skill Transfer), led by its CEO Dr. Hema Divakar, a renowned healthcare leader, pioneered the concept of digital transfer of skills, knowledge and training to healthcare providers and caregivers much before the deadly coronavirus impacted humanity.
Taking into consideration the challenges faced by the healthcare sector in a vast country like India, Dr. Hema Divakar, five years ago, had envisioned the role of digitalization in strengthening the system by imparting necessary skills and training through remote learning and training methods. It was found most effective in the capacity building of healthcare workers in the maternal and child healthcare sectors.
What began as an earnest effort by ARTIST for Her to prevent the deaths of babies in remote and inaccessible parts of the country and ensure that women’s health is the nation’s wealth through digital skills, knowledge transfer and training, today, digitalization has encapsulated the healthcare sector. “The disruption brought about by digitalization is inevitable today because of the pandemic. We are delighted because we had an early mover advantage in this; ARTIST for Her has built a fantastic, reliable and proven digital skill transfer platform that benefits a wide variety of stakeholders, behind healthcare workers,” said Dr. Hema Divakar, CEO, ARTIST for Her.
Digital skills transfer is today one of the cornerstones of ARTIST for Her, which has conducted several regional, national and international conferences, training modules, symposia, consultations, and capacity building programs in the virtual world. Crucial among them were Manyata, a quality improvement and certification initiative offered by Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI) for private facilities providing maternal care. ARTIST for Her piloted the program and further provided the necessary training through the digital format.
Likewise, for ORIGYN (Oasis of Recognized & Innovative Practices in Gynaecology), which rewrote women’s healthcare protocols for India and other low and middle healthcare countries, ARTIST for Her was the advocacy partner managing the mega virtual skill building platform. Pregnancy, Obesity and Nutrition Initiative (PONI) declaration and agenda implementation of Pregnancy & Non-Communicable Diseases Committee by International Federation of Gynaecology & Obstetrics also greatly benefited from digitalization at the international level.
Digitalization has also helped the healthcare sector at the grassroots level. ARTIST for Her’s pilot project – “Hemmaragala Model Health & Wellness Village” in Nanjangud constituency in Karnataka is a PPP model, which shows the way forward for a new rural low-dose high-impact preventive healthcare delivery system that can be implemented across the state. “A continuum of this initiative will be through the digital platform in the next few months to empower the providers to be confident and competent to offer preventive healthcare through skill transfer. This will help them use their discretion to identify problems early and refer,” pointed out Dr. Hema.
The launch of another novel initiative of JANANI HELPLINE will connect the girls and women with the specialists for consultations in India. Through 1,000 frontline healthcare providers, the number of beneficiaries will be close to one lakh women in the entire constituency of Nanjangud. Data documentation and impact report of the initiative will generate evidence for trends in improvement in nutrition and anemia, diabetes status and enhanced use of contraception as a parameter of wellness will be produced as a part of FIGO Well Woman Healthcare Committee, where Dr. Hema Divakar holds the prestigious position of the Chair of the committee.
“The Hemmaragala model delivered digitally could be the future of healthcare, where health experts are taken to the doorstep of villagers by a people’s representative, in collaboration with private players to ensure delivery of quality healthcare,” added Dr. Hema.
While digitalization is now pervasive, ARTIST for Her demonstrated that it was ahead of its time in taking the virtual route to benefit the entire healthcare ecosystem. Recently ARTIST for Her received FICCI AWARD for Excellence in Capacity Building.
ARTIST for Her:
Asian Research & Training Institute for Skill Transfer (ARTIST), a premier institute for learning, is based out of Bengaluru, India, and aims to improve the capabilities and competencies of Obstetrics & Gynaecologists (ObGyns) in India. Having extensively surveyed the Knowledge, Attitudes & Practices (KAPs) amongst the ObGyns across India, ARTIST specialists have been able to gather startling facts and identify the GAPs in KAPs. ARTIST will conduct training, teaching and research in order to fill these gaps. A group of expert healthcare professionals, leaders of professional organisations (national and international) key opinion makers, researchers and academicians, and leading clinicians in practice comprise the team behind ARTIST.
