April 5, 2010
Health Sciences Campus, Kochi
Dr. Sanjeev K. Singh, Senior Medical Administrator at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences was selected as a SHEA Ambassador from India.
SHEA or the Society of Healthcare Epidemiology of America SHEA provides continuing medical education for physicians and healthcare workers on the transmission and control of diseases contracted in hospitals and other epidemiologic-related topics.
The honor of ambassadorship is conferred on the ten best professionals in the world that specialize in infection control. SHEA has over 1700 members from North America and from around the world.
Recently Dr. Singh traveled to Atlanta, Georgia in the US to present at the Center for Disease Control on topics such as online continuous educational programs and infection control software in university hospitals and national pooling of data of occupational exposure among healthcare workers.
In May, Dr. Singh will return to the US to attend a SHEA healthcare epidemiology workshop in St. Louis, Missouri. Workshop topics will include the role of the hospital epidemiologist, transmission and control of hospital-borne infections, epidemic investigations, molecular epidemiology, emergency preparedness and infectious control for influenza.
Upon his return to India, Dr. Singh will spearhead the launch of a healthcare epidemiology program in India. The first program/course on healthcare epidemiology will be taught in Amrita. This will be followed by a course in another part of Kerala. “Within one year, we plan to teach at an additional eight university hospitals; this will complete the pilot program,” Dr. Singh shared.
Epidemiology is defined as the study of how often diseases occur in different groups of people and why. Epidemiological information is used to plan and evaluate strategies to prevent illness. “There is a critical need to establish a pool of Indian data with a standardization of definition and data collection mechanisms,” Dr. Singh emphasized.
“This pilot program, based on the SHEA healthcare epidemiology workshop, will be supported by knowledge partners — the CDC in the U.S. and the Government of India/Quality Council of India,” he noted. “One of our goals is to establish a better surveillance system throughout the country. Some hospitals in Kerala are ready to provide data,” he concluded.
The Secretary of Federation of Hospital Administrators and Regional Director of Indian Society of Health Administrators, Dr. Sanjeev Singh has an extensive background in disease control. In early 2000, he worked for the Disease Eradication Program of WHO, and was able to obtain substantial funding for the eradication of polio and measles for state governments.
Dr. Singh joined the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) as Medical Administrator in July 2003. He was promoted to Senior Medical Administrator in October 2004 and has continued in that capacity, till date. Amrita is proud to have this able administrator and dedicated epidemiologist helping humanity in the service of eliminating disease.
