A six-day management programme for 30 senior medical officers (SMOs) from Punjab would begin at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, on Monday. The programme is aimed at developing essential managerial skills to enhance the healthcare delivery across the state.

Notably, SMOs, most of whom happen to play the role of administrative jobs, don’t have any formal training in management. According to officials, the programme is tailor-made for the SMOs in collaboration with IIM-Ahmedabad to focus on key aspects, such as hospital administration, decision-making and public health system improvement.

Punjab health minister Dr Balbir Singh said that doctors were never imparted training for administrative work. “Our doctors are performing surgeries well but when it comes to running the hospitals efficiently, things are not same because they were never trained for hospital administration. Our government will provide them training to improve health services across the state,” he said. He added that they were mulling to form an administrative wing in the health department to improve the administration in health sector.

The health department has been upset over administrative lapses in various hospitals, said an official wishing not to be named. “After assessment, we realised that such lapses were only administrative failures. We are providing funds but doctors are not able to purchase medicines. This shows they lack administrative skills. They don’t sometimes know about things as small as power backup at hospitals. Therefore, SMOs need to be imparted skills,” the official added.