Building the Health Organisation in the District

Abstract

Probably the most important instrument available to a District Medical Officer (DMO) in charge of the ‘District Health Team’ for implementing a Primary Health Care Plan is the organisation of the team. One of the marks of the DMO as a successful manager is the ability to visualise the health personnel and other resources of the district as an organisation, disposed in the most effective way throughout the District to combat its health problems. Just as the health plan gives a clear analysis of the health needs of the District and the most effective way of meeting them, so the organisation is the means of translating the objectives of the health plan into practical action. Where there is good organisation the health personnel are able to work to their full potential, and the many different aspects of health care carried out by different people can be integrated for maximum effect. It is only within a sound organisation that good management can take place. There are many examples of individuals whose work has been unsatisfactory but which has improved enormously when they have either been moved to a different organisation or to another part of the same organisation, or the organisation itself has been changed in some way. What has been at fault is not the individual, but the organisation.