Arunachal: Cultural competency workshop held for healthcare professionals

Arunachal: The Tribal Health Collaborative, Piramal Foundation recently conducted cultural competency workshops for healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses and allied health staffers, across various institutes in the state.

These workshops were aimed to build a culturally sensitive and compassionate healthcare delivery system for India’s underserved tribal populations, ensuring that these communities feel understood, respected, and cared for within modern healthcare settings, the foundation informed in a release.

The foundation held sessions for the doctors and nurses of the Arunachal Nursing Institute in Naharlagun, and at the Zion Institute of Nursing in Nirjuli.

“Additionally, workshops were conducted on 6 November and 7 November at the North East Nursing College

of Health Sciences in Lekhi village and the Tago Memorial Institute of Health Science & Hospital in Nirjuli, respectively” it said.

“These sessions are designed to equip healthcare professionals with essential skills to understand cultural nuances and respect the values of tribal patients,” the release added.

Dr Kaling Dabi, who led the sessions, emphasized the importance of integrating cultural competency within India’s healthcare systems. He highlighted that tribal communities and many marginalized communities avoid modern healthcare due to cultural mismatches and historical distrust, stressing that “healthcare providers must build empathy and understanding to truly connect with tribal patients in a way that makes them feel respected and valued.”