Nagaland launches i-Learn platform to empower health officers in managing wellness centres

i-Learn has unique architecture that will enable officials to monitor the progress of CHOs across HWCs.

Our Correspondent
Kohima, March 23 (EMN): In what will help community health officers (CHOs) manage Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) in the state better by empowering them with new skill sets, Nagaland government launched a capacity building and performance tracking application called i-Learn on Tuesday.

The learning platform, which is an initiative of the state government in partnership with USAID-NISHTHA/Jhpiego, was launched by Minister for Health and Family Welfare, S Pangnyu Phom at his office chamber in Kohima.

Speaking on the occasion, Phom said that health workforce has been on the frontline fighting the Covid-19 pandemic and ‘we must provide all the means to equip them with the right knowledge, skills, and expertise to fight it’.

He expressed hope that the initiative would support CHOs in enhancing their skills and capacities in various domains and ultimately help provide quality and affordable healthcare services. 

The minister said that Covid-19 had made an impact in Nagaland, and it was committed to defeating the disease.

He said that the state government had rolled out many initiatives including digital technology to manage the pandemic.

Earlier, Nagaland had launched Naga Telehealth, a telemedicine platform to provide essential health services across all 189 HWCs in the state, and it was supported by USAID’s project NISHTHA, which is implemented by Jhpiego.

So far, about 1000 tele-consultations have been given through Naga Telehealth, Phom informed.

Mission Director, National Health Mission, Nagaland, Dr. I Talitemsula Jamir informed that the state is in its third year of implementing the Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs).

“The success of this ambitious programme, especially within the given timelines, would not be possible without the CHOs who lead the primary healthcare team at the HWCs, thereby bringing quality care closer to the community. The CHOs are a vital cadre of the health workforce to bring quality, affordable and accessible healthcare right to the doorstep of our communities. It is important to strengthen the skills of these CHOs who will be at the forefront of healthcare delivery at the HWCs,” she said.

Jamir expressed confidence that this tool (i-Learn) would support CHOs at HWCs in strengthening their clinical and non-clinical skills through training over a period of time. She also informed that the platform would include a mix of augmented and virtual reality videos, animation, and 360-degree videos.

“It also includes unique architecture where one will be able to monitor the progress of CHOs across HWCs as part of empowering them with new skill sets,” she added.

Director of Health Office, USAID, Sangita Patel, informed that i-Learn is a learning management platform for CHOs with a blend of self and facilitated learning for improving multi-skilling in the areas of RMNCH, NCD, TB, Covid-19, and non-clinical skills. She added that the platform utilises new age technologies such as augmented and virtual realities for capacity building of healthcare workers.

“The technology platform is designed as an open-source platform for further deployment and scaling across various states in the country,” she said.

Patel went on to add that it was built on a unique architecture wherein every state would be able to monitor the progress of CHOs across HWCs as part of empowering them with new skill sets.