New Delhi, (IANS) The national capital will have public health university and an Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH) to provide a trained health workforce, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said after donating 51 acres of land for the two institutes Friday.

The institutes will be built by the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), a public-private partnership between the central government, the Delhi government and private players – which is the brainchild of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The university, to come up in southwest Delhi, will be a constituent unit of the network of institutes being established by the PHFI. This campus will be named ‘Swasthya Niketan’, and the university will link several institutes of public health which the foundation proposes to establish in various regions of India.

Emphasising its importance, Dikshit said: ‘India has an urgent need for a trained public health workforce that can supplement ongoing efforts to provide health services and ensure their reach to those most needy.’

Delhi Health Minister Kiran Walia said: ‘This effort is also aimed at strengthening the overall health system in the country by creating a country-wide network of institutions committed to public health education, training, research, advocacy and policy initiatives.’

‘As we focus our efforts on enhancing the quality and quantum of the health workforce and on strengthening India’s health system… PHFI will play a catalytic role in the transformation of health systems and help to realize Gandhiji’s vision of equity in health,’ PHFI president K. Srinath Reddy said.

-- IANS