Background: 42 million Indians are affected by either hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism. 1/3rd of patients with hypothyroidism remain undiagnosed due to lack of clinical awareness. PCPs play an important role in the screening and initiation evaluation in these patients. In India, understaffed and overburdened tertiary care along with ill-equipped and poorly skilled primary care system remains the unaddressed concern. This gap can be bridged through training of PCPs.
Methods: PHFI implemented a training initiative CCMTD along with Chellaram Diabetes Institute, with educational grant from GSK Pharmaceuticals and 15 national expert panel. This 4 modular course covered various aspects of management of thyroid disorders, with mix of theory, case studies and videos, and was delivered once a month on weekends by 49 faculty at various centres in India. An integrated monitoring and supervision mechanism was established to monitor and evaluate the program and assure training quality.
Results: Around 2500 PCPs from 41 cities were trained over 3 cycles; 45% were post graduates and 31% from government sector. The success rate measured by exam conducted at the end of course was 89.9%. This course has been endorsed by Asia and Oceania Thyroid Association for 10 years (2016-2025). Three State governments have already adopted this course for training of their doctors. Following successful run in India, the model has also been adopted in Nepal, Afghanistan, Myanmar and many more are in pipeline..
Conclusion: This course is unique since it is probably the only national level thyroid disease training to be undertaken in India. High enrolment and compliance rate reveal an acceptability by the physicians in education on thyroid management.