Indus Hospital Research Center IHRC

Indus Hospital has entered into a strategic partnership with IRD, a non-profit research and service organization committed to saving lives through improvements in global health. IRD seeks to create opportunities for scientists and social entrepreneurs that maximize the impact of health interventions in low-income communities. Indus Hospital and IRD have established the joint Indus Hospital Research Center, IHRC for short, focussed on 4 areas.

The Center for Community Development (CCD) implements programs to help improve health and increase economic opportunities for low-income households. CCD is collaborating with Partners in Health to design and implement the Community Outreach Program at the Indus Hospital. Learn more about the Community Outreach Program.

The Center for Injection Safety works to prevent the reuse of needles and syringes in health care settings, the driving force behind the Hepatitis C and B epidemics in Pakistan. CIS has trained over 700 paramedical staff and administrators at 25 major hospitals and has conducted advocacy workshops for general medical practitioners in over 10 cities. CIS partners include Becton Dickinson and the Infectious Diseases Society of Pakistan for advocacy and training, and the Safe Injection Global Network (SIGN) at the World Health Organization for research.

Community Outreach Program

The Community Outreach Program is being developed in collaboration with Partners in Health to provide volunteer-based health and social services to a population of 2.4 million. The program is being implemented by an Indus Hospital team led by IRD (link to research page) and will expand outwards from the localities immediately surrounding Indus Hospital. The program aims to provide sustainable, volunteer-based health and social services at the door step through.

• Household Registration and Follow-up
  All households in the service population will be registered through a baseline census, and will be assigned a unique identification number. A “household” is defined as a family group that shares a cooking stove.
• Disease Prevention and Control
  This service is designed to prevent the most common causes of childhood and adult deaths in low-income communities, primarily through vaccination and other low-cost strategies. High priority diseases include pneumonia, diarrhea, tuberculosis and malaria.
• Integrated Microfinance and Health Insurance
  This service integrates micro finance products with volunteerism and health interventions. This initiative aims to provide health safety nets to increase utilization of microcredit loans and improve the productivity of the individuals and families.

For more information, contact Ms. Saira Khowaja (snk2107@columbia.edu)

HMSI Training

Continuous training for staff in HMIS is underway. At induction each member of the staff is required to undergo an orientation and training program. Once satisfactory levels of proficiency are reached, the staff member is certified as eligible to start duties.