SCTIMST professor Dr Rakhal Gaitonde included in Lancet commission on India's healthcare system

Thiruvananthapuram: Dr. Rakhal Gaitonde is a Professor of Public Health at the Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies of the Sree Chitra Tirunal Insititute of Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, joined as a "Commissioner" in the 'Lancet Commission on Reimagining India's health care system', which is an ambitious, cross-sectoral endeavor to lay out the roadmap to achieving universal health coverage for the people of India.

The Lancet is a leading international medical journal that has paved the way for medical reforms and global health discussions around the world. The Commission on Reimagining India's Health System will be the first participatory report of its kind to be published by the journal, and the first Commission devoted to India.

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Rakhal Gaitonde trained in community medicine at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, and completed his PhD from Umea University in Sweden. He teaches Social Determinants of Health, Health Policy, and Health Economics.

He has more than a decade's involvement in Environment and Occupational Health supporting a number of pollution-impacted communities through research and advocacy. He is a member of the Patient Advisory Board and International Editorial Advisory Board of The BMJ.

He has recently been involved in formulating health policy documents for both the Kerala and Tamilnadu State Planning Bodies.

Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported that the Division of Pediatric Cardiology, under the Department of Cardiology, proposes the organization of a new focused clinic for outpatient care within the outpatient block of the Department of Cardiology – "Fontan Clinic". The Fontan Clinic shall be a dedicated clinic for the evaluation and management of patients who have undergone total cavopulmonary connection (TCPC), commonly referred to as the Fontan surgery, the destination surgery of a series of surgeries for complex univentricular congenital heart diseases.

Also Read:Kerala: SCTIMST gets Fontan Clinic for complex univentricular congenital heart diseases