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Community Development Medicinal Unit (CDMU),
Calcutta, achieved its long-cherished goal of introducing
the Leadership Training Program On Rational Use Of
Drugs for doctors and senior health workers. The
program, which was the inaugural one in a planned series,
was held between February 6-8, 1998, at the Udayani
Jesuit Institute in central Calcutta. Its objective was
different from other training courses conducted by CDMU
in the past. The aim was not only to impart information
on essential drugs and rational therapeutics, but to
train leaders who can disseminate the information and put
it into practice in their respective organisations by
assuming a leadership role. Although the participation
was modest, half of the registered participants were
doctors, some being from outside Calcutta. Interested
staff from CDMU's Head Office and Documentation Centre
also attended. The program was residential and food and
boarding for the participants was arranged at the venue
itself.
The inaugural function was graced by Dr. N. C. Banerjee
(member, Drug Technical Advisory Board, Government of
India) as representative of CDMU's advisory committee,
Dr. G. P. Dutta (eminent gynaecologist and member of the
West Bengal Legislative Assembly) as Chief Guest, Dr.
Satrujit Dasgupta (eminent psychiatrist) as CDMU
President and Mrs. Juliana Chaudhuri from CDMU
Documentation Centre's sponsor and well-wisher, Mennonite
Central Committee - India. In his address, Dr. Dutta
spoke of the politics of health care in India and the
lack of fruitful interaction between conventional and
indigenous systems of medicine. He asked CDMU to include
these aspects in future programs.The training course comprised of the
following principal modules:
- Concept of essential
drugs and its implications
- Formularies
- Treatment guidelines
for common diseases
- Drug control, drug
policy (including patents) and drug promotion in
India
- Inventory management
The faculty comprised of
practising physicians and eminent academicians from
state-level teaching institutions of medicine and
pharmacy. The training co-ordinator set the tone for the
entire training program by elucidating the concept of
essential drugs in the opening session. In the session on
formularies, the British National Formulary was analysed
in some detail, being taken as a model, and the
attributes of a comprehensive formulary that could meet
the needs of various categories of medical and
paramedical staff were outlined. The long but informative
module on treatment guidelines began with a discussion on
the rational drug therapy of acute diarrhoea followed by
discourses on malaria and kala-azar. The colourful
photo-slides in this session held the audience in rapt
attention.
The second day's program commenced, somewhat behind
schedule, with the module on Indian drug regulations. The
audience expressed consternation at the grim picture of
drug control reality in India. Continuing right from
where this session concluded, there was a lively
discussion on the rudiments of national drug policy,
patents & intellectual property rights and unethical
drug promotion in India. The slides on
‘anything-goes' drug promotion was an eye-opener to
the audience and also a source of considerable amusement.
Unfortunately, a debate on the Indian Consumer Protection
Act could not be held for want of time and the
participants had to be satisfied with the handout on
this, given to them earlier. The final session on the
second day was on the treatment of the two major
mycobacterial diseases - tuberculosis and leprosy. The
elaborate nature of the World Health Organization
guidelines stimulated considerable interaction between
the resource person and the participants.
The third and final day of the program started with a
brief discussion on drug compliance with the help of
actual medicine samples. The highly practical module on
drug inventory management followed. The information here
was novel and generated various queries. Post-lunch the
participants had a chance to express themselves more
fully in the participatory discussion session. The
response-assessment questionnaire, given to them on the
first day, was discussed. During the vote of thanks, the
participants expressed overall satisfaction with the
training course contents, the course materials and the
hosting. They suggested that in future programs practical
demonstrations should be included and punctuality should
be strictly maintained. It is to be hoped that these
suggestions will be acted upon and future CDMU Leadership
Training Programs will become even more informative and
stimulating.
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