Dr Mohan’s Academy is spreading wings to become global hub in training educators in diabetes

Chennai:

In a bid to have skilled and trained educators in diabetes across the country and the world, Dr Mohan’s Diabetes Education Academy is offering several medical and para-medical courses.

“India is slowly emerging as the country with largest number of diabetes cases and there is a shortage of doctors as well as trained educators,” Dr V Mohan, principal and chairman of the academy, told reporters on Thursday.

He said the courses offered by the academy, which is World Health Organisation’s collaborating center for non-communicable diseases prevention and control, will try to bridge the gap.

Interestingly, students from abroad are also flocking to take up the course. “We have students from as far as Tanzania in Africa to Middle East, North America and East Asia,” said Dr Mohan as he introduced few of them to the reporters.

“We are also trying to covert the academy into a global center of excellence for training. India is slowly emerging as an important player in the field. Earlier we used to go to the US and European countries. But now things have changed, people from developed as well as developing countries are visiting here,” he said.

The academy offers one-year post doctoral fellowship in diabetology besides two-year fellowships in diabetology and eye diseases of diabetes. All the courses are affiliated to The Tamilnadu Dr MGR Medical University, says Dr Mohan.

The thrust is also on paramedical courses for non-medical and allied medical specialities and the academy is offering a post graduate diploma in diabetes education besides a Bachelors degree in medical laboratory technology, diplomas in nursing aide and podiatory and some certificate courses.

The academy is also having a joint certification course designed and delivered by Public Health Foundation of India and Dr Mohan’s Diabetes Education Academy (DMDEA). The objective of the course is to develop core skills and need based competencies in primary care physicians for practice of evidence based diabetes management. The course is conducted through a network of approximately 100 certified regional training centers across 57 cities.

Dr Mohav said the academy is also in collaboration with Association of Diabetes Educators is launching a National Diabetes Educator programme besides in collaboration with Cliniminds, India’s largest clinical research training institute, in offereing clinical research courses