Dr. S. Dhananjaya Naidu, Lead – Partnerships and Innovations at ACCESS Health International, participated in a panel discussion on Public Sector Uptake at the recent Health Technology Assessment (HTA) sensitisation workshop. The event was hosted by the Department of Health Research (Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore.
The sensitisation workshop provided an opportunity to reflect on the growing importance of HTA in India and its role in shaping effective health financing initiatives. It also highlighted the contributions of Regional Resource Centres, which have been established by the Department of Health Research to support state governments in evidence-informed policy development.
As part of the panel, Dr. Naidu contributed to discussions on several key aspects:
- Mechanisms for sustained coordination between central and state health departments
- Training and resource needs for state officials to effectively integrate HTA into health policies
- Creation of feedback loops to improve the utilization of HTA recommendations in policy implementation
- Integration of findings from already completed HTA studies into ongoing policymaking processes
- Identification of topics prioritized by states for future HTA studies
ACCESS Health recognizes that workshops such as this are an important step toward embedding HTA into India’s policymaking framework. By equipping state governments with the knowledge, resources, and collaborative mechanisms they need, these efforts ensure that health financing and policy decisions are guided by robust evidence, ultimately strengthening the resilience and effectiveness of the country’s health systems.