The programme will be the first-of-its kind in South Asia.
The School of Health Systems Studies (SHSS) at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (Tiss) is working on a new masters programme in health policy, economics and finance which will be launched next year.
“The course will focus on the economics and finance of healthcare provisions and the nature of policy changes needed to make healthcare accessible,” said S Parasuraman, Tiss director.
To prepare faculty capacity to start the programme in 2010, one faculty member did his masters in international health policy from the London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE), while another is in the middle of the course.
“This is part of the Tiss-LSE collaboration and they are assisting us in developing a similar programme which will be first-of-its kind in South Asia. SHSS is a WHO-collaborating centre on health policy and system research,” said Kanchan Mukherjee, associate professor at SHSS. He completed masters in international health policy from LSE and is developing the curriculum for Tiss programme.
Mukherjee said the programme will be open to graduates and existing mid-level healthcare professionals. Candidates will undergo classroom teaching in the first and second semesters. There will be a five-week internship programme at the end of second semester.
“The second year will be field-based. In the third semester, students will have to do research and policy brief development,” said Mukherjee.
The fourth semester will have a “field practicum” where students will have to develop situation analysis, prepare action plan and implement it.
Kanchan Mukherjee said students could be absorbed in government healthcare systems as experts and consultants. “Starting salary could be about Rs25,000 per month or above. Other avenues include jobs with international NGOs, positions at WHO in South Asia and abroad. It could also include World Bank-related projects. Major international agencies looking at macro-level projects could be other good options. Their approximate salary could be about Rs35,000 or above.”
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