India, Sri Lanka to boost health technology assessment
New Delhi, Feb 10
The five-day India-Sri Lanka workshop on Health Technology Assessment is a significant strategic milestone in bilateral healthcare diplomacy and HTA knowledge exchange, underscoring India's commitment to supporting regional health initiatives, senior government officials have said.
The knowledge exchange workshop on HTA formally commenced at the Sushma Swaraj Bhawan here, hosted by the Department of Health Research (DHR), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs.
It aims to develop a strategic pathway for advancing and institutionalising HTA in Sri Lanka, according to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Dr. Rajiv Bahl, Secretary DHR and DG of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), welcomed the delegates and addressed the inaugural session.
According to a ministry statement, Anu Nagar, Additional Secretary, DHR, highlighted the impactful contributions of HTAIn (Health Technology Assessment in India) to India's healthcare landscape, and expressed confidence that this knowledge exchange will benefit the institutionalisation of HTA in Sri Lanka.
The official statement further said that HTAIn plays a pivotal role in evaluating healthcare technologies and ensuring cost-effective, evidence-based health interventions across India.
"The five-day workshop will cover a wide range of topics, including HTA institutional frameworks, governance, methodologies, pricing, and procurement decisions,"it added.
The objectives include identifying potential collaborative initiatives to strengthen HTA capacities and systems in both nations.
To facilitate the process of transparent and evidence informed decision making in the field of health, the government has created an institutional arrangement called the Health Technology Assessment in India (HTAIn) under the Department of Health Research (DHR).
HTAIn is entrusted with the responsibility to collate and where needed generate evidence related to the clinical effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and safety of medicines, devices and health programs using the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) approach.
— IANS
Reader Comments
Excellent move. HTA is crucial for a country like India with limited resources. We must ensure every rupee spent on healthcare gives maximum benefit. Hope this collaboration also brings back some learnings from Sri Lanka's system.
While the diplomacy is good, I hope the focus remains on ground-level implementation. We have HTAIn, but are hospitals in smaller towns actually using evidence-based, cost-effective interventions? The theory needs to match practice.
Good to see India taking a lead in sharing technical expertise. This is the kind of soft power that builds lasting relationships. Jai Hind!
Transparency in healthcare procurement is so important to reduce corruption and wastage. If this workshop helps strengthen that in both countries, it will directly benefit the common citizen. More power to HTAIn!
Interesting read. As someone working in global health, it's impressive to see India developing and exporting this kind of institutional knowledge. The focus on cost-effectiveness is key for developing economies.
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