Centre For Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH)

CENTRE FOR OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIORNMENTAL HEALTH,

GROUND FLOOR B.L. TANEJA BLOCK

MAULANA AZAD MEDICAL COLLEGE NEW DELHI – 110002

Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health at Maulana Azad Medical College has been set up to address the growing concerns and hazards related to environment and health. With rising pollution at work and in community, the health professional have an onerous responsibility to inform policy makers, educate stakeholders and undertake management of occupational and environmental illness. The centre is conducting a clinic for work related illness once a week, and intends to develop the specialty of occupational and environmental medicine for the first time in India which is a thriving medical discipline in North America, Europe and Japan.

Centre has been acknowledged by International institutions and prestigious organizations including WHO & ILO. The centre has specially studied the problem of fire fighters and created a baseline health profile of industrial workers in Delhi. The Centre plans to undertake the following tasks in coming years.

Education of physicians and other health care workers on bio –medical waste management: this is mandatory under the Biomedical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998 and amended in 2006 as notified by the Govt. of India. This has become essential due to rising incidence of HIV, and hepatitis B & C infections among community creating risk to the health and safety of hospital workers. The centre is already organizing training of M.B.B.S. students, physicians, nursing staff, technicians, and other supportive staff on bio medical waste management.

To fulfill it’s objectives and attain the goals, the Centre functions through a Govt. society which gives flexibility and autonomy to the centre to speedily execute proposed plan of action.

 

Administrative Head

Principal Secretary, Health & Family Welfare, GNCTD is the Chairman of the Society in his/her ex-officio capacity. 

 

Academic Head

Dean, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi is the Academic Head of the Centre.

 

Present Member Secretary/IVPSS

Dr. M.M. Singh, MBBS, MD (Director Professor & Head Community medicine). In addition to that, Dr. M.M. Singh is currently holding the position of Member Secretary since August, 2021. Other than preventive and social medicine, his area of interest lies in environmental health and epidemiology. Dr. M.M. Singh have conducted several health surveys.

Dr. Naresh Kumar, M.B.B.S., MD (Professor & Head Pulmonary Medicine). He is the co-in charge of COEH since 1 August, 2021. He is also Co-PI for the project “The Effect of Air Pollution and Genetic Association in relation to Respiratory Health among Healthy Population in Delhi, India awarded to the centre by Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation.

 

Past Member Secretary/IVPSS

Dr. T.K. Joshi, M.B.B.S., M.S. (SURGERY), M.SC. (OCC. MED.). He has expertise in Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Dr. Joshi was the founder Member Secretary. He headed the centre from 1998 to 2015. During his tenure, centre reached it’s heights. He was instrumental in the creation of one and only department in any medical college and emphasized on the promotion of occupational and environmental medicine in India, which was a neglected field.

Dr. M.K. Daga, M.B.B.S, M.D (Medicine), FRCP. Dr. Daga is the renowned Pulmonary Physician. He was second successor of the centre after Dr. Joshi retired from the post of Member Secretary. He reigned the centre from 2015 till July, 2021. During his term, department was involved in many research activities pertaining to air pollution, water pollution etc. Department received many significant studies which bring vital changes/policies for the community.

 

Clinical work:

  1. Centre runs once a week clinic providing consultancy to those affected by occupational and environmental illnesses;
  2. Management and detailed work up of complex cases of occupational illnesses is also undertaken.
  3. The centre provides consultancy to industry workers, community groups on work related issues, environmental health issues, and safety.

 

Training:

  1. Chemical safety training for industry worker
  2. Training on occupational safety, health in working conditions
  3. National hands-on-training on spirometry and audiometry for strengthening occupational health. (Quarterly basis)
  4. Regular training on bio medical waste management (MBBS students, Occupational Health physicians, nurses and lab technicians)

 

Research Areas:

  1. Environmental and Health Risk Assessment;
  2. Risks and Hazards associated to various Pollution viz., air, water, noise, soil
  3. Office Ergonomics

 

Priority Areas:

  • Air Pollution related health Effects
  • E-waste related health effects
  • Water and its health effects
  • Vehicular pollution
  • Health of industrial and health care workers
  • Bio medical waste management and handling
  • Nutrition issues at workplace
  • Work-related musculoskeletal disorders
  • Work place injury prevention and control

 

Publication during 2023-24

  1.  

Siddharth Chand, Naresh Kumar1, Govind Mawari, Sayan Sarkar1, Mradul Kumar Daga, Raghu RV, J. Aarthi, Arisha Fatima. Systemic inflammatory response syndrome criteria (SIRS) and sepsis 3 criteria for assessing outcomes in sepsis: A prospective observational study. Lung India 2023;40:200-4  DOI: 10.4103/lungindia. lungindia_400_22

Sachin Gautam, Rahul Kumar, Dharam Pal Bhadoria, Govind Mawari, Naresh Kumar, Mradul K. Daga, Sanjay Pandit, S. Anuradha, Gaurav Shanker Pradhan, Sandeep Garg, Gaurav Sharma, Raghu RV, Nupur Ritchie, Dasari Jayamsulekha. Clinical profile of hospitalised moderate category COVID 19 patients: Short study from a tertiary care centre in Delhi. J Family Med Prim Care 2023;12:1644-53. DOI: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_2245_22

Amrapali Kunwar,, Govind Mawaria & Manash Pratim Sharma. Implications for prevention and management of lead poisoning based on lead protoporphyrin risk assessment. Biospectra : ISSN: 0973-7057, Vol. 18(1), March, 2023, pp. 139-144

Govind Mawari, Naresh Kumar, Sayan Sarkar, Tushar Kant Joshi, Arthur L. Frank, Mradul Kumar Daga and Mongjam Meghachandra Singh. Mercury air, urine monitoring and health effects on occupationally exposed dental healthcare workers in Delhi, India. Work, vol. Pre-press, no. Pre-press, pp. 1-7, 2024. DOI: 10.3233/WOR-230109

Sachin Gautam, Govind Mawari, Mradul Kumar Daga, Naresh Kumar, Harpreet Singh, Sandeep Garg, Suresh Kumar, Monika Gajendrakumar, Mahak Golani, Ishan Rohatgi, Sayan Sarkar, Shubham Kaushik, Manish Kumar Jha, and Sweety Mehra. Evaluation of the Efficacy and Safety of Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIG) in Moderate-to-Severe Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients: A Randomized, Open-Label Parallel Group Study. Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology Volume 2024, Article ID 7209380, 11 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2024/7209380 

Surya Dev Chauhan, Govind Mawari. Hepatitis B Vaccination After Occupational Exposure Among Healthcare Workers in a Tertiary Hospital in Delhi. J Adv Res Med 2023; 10(4): 24-31.

 

Ongoing activities

  • Study on “Health Impact of Firecrackers Bursting during Diwali in National Capital of Delhi awarded by Central Pollution Control Board”
  • Study on “The Effect of Air Pollution and Genetic Association in relation to Respiratory Health among Healthy Population in Delhi, India awarded by Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation”.
  • Central Pollution Control Board funded forthcoming training on “Epidemiological Study with respect to Chemicals like Arsenic, Poly Aromatic Hydrocarbons” for the officers of State Pollution Control Board on 6-7 February, 2025.

Awareness and Health Camps

  • Awareness and Health camps are being organized by the department on regular basis in different areas of Delhi to create awareness regarding air pollution and other pollution related health problems in the community.

International Collaborations

  • Health Effects Institute, Boston MA (USA)
  • University of Cincinnati, USA
  • University of California, San Francisco, USA
  • Berkeley University, USA

Contact Information:

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