“Reach out to every nook and corner of the country, where people are still dying in the margins” was the message of Archbishop Anil Couto as he inaugurated the 76th National Health Conference of the Catholic Heath Association of India (CHAI) at Holy Family Hospital, Delhi on 17th & 18th of October. The theme of the two day conference which was participated by over 200 heads of Catholic Hospitals from across India was “Healthcare at the margins of the society, Innovation for quality care”.

Archbishop Prakash Mallavarappu of Visakhapatanam who is also the Ecclesiastical Adviser of CHAI released the “Vision 2030” document of Catholic Health Association of India. Archbishop said that the Vision 2030 long term plan would help the organisation to focus on its priorities, based on the predicted changes in health field and technology for the next decade. Rev Dr Mathew Abraham, Director-General of CHAI presented the detailed Vision document, which was the result of a long term planning with various stakeholders and technical experts like TC4A, a global tech company, for social impact. The plan has a ten-year transformation program for CHAI to provide compassionate and quality care while keeping it affordable for the people in the margins.

Shri Alphonse Kannanthanam, Member of Parliament who addressed the gathering called for a proactive role to collaborate with the Government and fill up the gaps in the implementation of various government projects which are beneficial to the poorer sections of the society. He said that “christian health care institutions have played a major role in alleviating the suffering of the people in the margins.” He praised the Catholic Health Association of India for being the the largest, not for profit healthcare network in India with 3572 Member Institutions ranging from primary health care centres to teaching medical colleges. The network is manned by 50,000 volunteers, most of whom are Sisters, (Nuns) providing health care for over 21 million people annually.

Various Digital innovations for improvement in quality healthcare including, CHAI academy, a medical e-learning hub to facilitate online capacity building in leadership and healthcare were rolled out as part of the the Vision 2030. The conference had panel discussion with the government representatives regarding the collaboration with government health schemes like Ayushman Bharath. Issues of accreditation and quality of care were discussed in the conference by the experts, providing guidelines on enabling all CHAI members institutions to get accredited with NABH. The VISION 2030 document that provides a long term perspective development plan for the Catholic Health Association was endorsed by the General body.

Sr Dr Victoria Narichiti, the president of CHAI welcomed the participants at the conference. Fr George Kannanthanam, Secretary to CHAI presented the two days program schedule at the program. Fr Sebastian and the RUPCHA region Team coordinated the two day conference and Annual General Body of CHAI with the support of the Holy Family Hospital team headed by Fr P A George.