The Masters of Public Health students from Edward & Cynthia Institute of Public Health visited the Permude panchayat in a bid to understand the working system and community health initiatives by the panchayat. The visit aimed to provide detailed working knowledge of a local self-government institution and the multiple developmental schemes prevailing for the well-being of the community.
Public Health students of Edward and Cynthia Institute of Public Health visited Permude grama panchayat as part of their curriculum. The visit provided the opportunity for the students to learn the various schemes introduced, guidelines on community health and working setup of local governance.
Upon arrival students were greeted by the Panchayat Development officer Shailaja and students were given brief orientation of the functioning of the panchayat and its role in community health initiatives. During their visit, the students were oriented on multiple social security schemes available for the community and the process to avail the benefits of these schemes. Students were also given information on the documents required and paper works to be done to apply for various developmental schemes. This visit facilitated, a hands-on knowledge gain experience to the students who would go out to be the working professionals in various sectors and departments of community development. The panchayat staff and students had an opportunity for a constructive exchange of ideas reinforcing the essentials of community engagement and multisectoral collaboration to achieve sustainable healthcare and community development outcomes. The visit was a mutually beneficial one and with such learnings from the field students are sure to become change agents of tomorrow, working towards a better communities equipped with better public health.
