Published on: November 11, 2016

Dr M. R. Rajagopal writes:

I asked Dr Nandini Vallath, Palliative Medicine consultant at Trivandrum Institute of Palliative Sciences, what she thought of the ECHO program. I wanted it in one sentence.

“Generosity of heart, distilled wisdom and technology that transcends the world”, she said.

Four of us, Dr Nandini, Dr Sreedevi, Mr G S Manoj and myself, had attended the ECHO (Extension for Community Health Outcomes) immersion program at New Delhi on 8, 9, 10 November 2016.

What ECHO achieves is what Tagore envisioned in his Heaven of freedom, “Where knowledge is free”. Created by Dr Sanjeev Arora from Albuquerque, USA, it trains professionals in many skills that ordinarily are the domain of super-specialists. “Moving knowledge, not patients” is how they describe this. Like in many parts of the world, many in India, including NIMHANS, use it successfully.

Thank you for this opportunity, Dr Arora and colleagues.