Central Bureau of… What?

Most of us have undoubtedly heard of the Central Bureau of Investigation. But has anyone ever heard of the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence? I for one wasn’t certain I could believe my eyes when I was browsing the net looking for some India-related statistics on healthcare and came across the website.

CBHI Website

Established as far back as 1961, the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI) is the National nodal Institute in the  Directorate General of Health Services,  Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India. Like most ministerial outfits, the CBHI is headquartered at Nirman Bhavan in New Delhi.

CBHI is headed by a Director and has four distinct divisions:

• ·         Policy & Infrastructure
• ·         Training, Collaboration & Research
• ·         Information & Evaluation and
• ·         Administration

The CBHI is ably supported by 6 Health Information Field Survey Units located in different Regional Offices of Health and Family Welfare of the GOI at Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jaipur, Lucknow & Patna

In-service training courses for the CBHI are conducted by the following hospitals:

• ·         Regional Health Statistics Training Centre at Mohali, Punjab
• ·         Medical Record Department & Training Centre of Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi
• ·         and JIPMER, Puduchery

The stated objectives of the CBHI include:

• ·         To maintain and disseminate the: National Health Profile, Health Sector Policy Reform Options Database, Inventory and GIS Mapping of Government Health Facilities in India, etc.
• ·         Review the Progress of Health Sector Millennium Development Goal in India.
• ·         Annual Road Safety Profile of India
• ·         Facilitate Capacity Building & Human Resource Development, and
• ·         Need Based Operational Research for Efficient Health Information System as well as use of Family of International Classification in India & South East Asia Region.

Of special interest was the National Health Profile – 2015, which is available on the site in the form of an E-Book. If you forgive the slow loading and terrible Flash, you see it filled with a whole host of interesting statistics. 

You can bet that I will be visiting this site regularly from now on!