JanHIT: First National Orientation of Tribal Healers at Hyderabad

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs, working with the ICMR-National Institute of Health Research (ICMR-NIHR), Bhubaneswar, has held the country's first National Orientation Programme for Tribal Healers on Public Health. The two-day programme took place on 1 and 2 November 2026 at Kanha Shanti Vanam, Hyderabad, and comes under the ministry's Janjatiya Health Institutional Transformation (JanHIT) initiative.

Who opened it

The programme was inaugurated in the auditorium at Kanha Shanti Vanam by Manish Thakur, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, and Dr Sanghamitra Pati, Director of ICMR-NIHR, Bhubaneswar. Among those present were B. M. Santosh, Special Secretary and Director of Tribal Welfare in Telangana, and Dr V. Samujwala, Director of the Tribal Cultural Research and Training Institute, Telangana. The launch fell on the opening day of the Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas Pakhwada.

Who attended

The healers were nominated by state tribal welfare departments. The nine States and Union Territories taking part are Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Sessions were run in regional languages so that healers from different states could follow the training in the language they speak.

What the training covered

• Communicable and vector-borne diseases, and skin diseases
• Non-communicable diseases, metabolic and blood disorders, and liver diseases
• Mental health conditions
• When to refer cases of snakebite, scorpion and other stings, animal bites and injuries
• Eye and ear disorders, oral health, and care of the newborn and infant

The aim was to help healers recognise danger signs early and send patients to a doctor in time, rather than to replace what they do. The schedule also included practice sessions, review, a test after the training and feedback from the participants, so that the organisers could judge how well the orientation worked.

Who taught and why it matters

Experts came from AIIMS, the Indian Council of Medical Research, the Quality Council of India, the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Amrita Institute in Kochi, IIHMR Bengaluru and Piramal Swasthya in Maharashtra, each teaching in the relevant language. Tribal healers are often the first person a patient in a remote hamlet turns to, so linking them to the formal health system is meant to shorten the delay before serious illness reaches a hospital. The training module itself was prepared by ICMR-NIHR, Bhubaneswar, with the ministry's support. The programme ended on 2 November 2026 with a closing ceremony at which certificates were handed to the participants.