EDITORIAL

The scope and scenario of healthcare system of India has been going through a transitional phase. At present Indian healthcare system is in transitional phase falling in between Westernized System and Traditional Oriental System. The health care system is being forced to recognize the importance of incorporating newer and more user friendly changes, because those changes could rectify age-old problems and lacunaes affecting the entire healthcare system. Modern healthcare system has to be humane and technologically updated simultaneously to understand people and their problems and address them with high degree of compassion and clinical precisions. This could be achieved if the healthcare system becomes more holistic and treat all healthcare professional disciplines in equitable manner. This outlook could not only empower the healthcare system rather it also could understand all dimensions of health problems and related issues. The discipline of Social Work has tremendous roles in making healthcare system more close to people, because health issues and problems are not devoid of society, societal institutions, culture and intrinsic factors related to human society and civilization. Social Work as a professional discipline has always been upfront in giving importance to basic human values and recognizing their supremacy. Therefore, modern healthcare system cannot ignore this disciple, be at the core institutional level or community level. It’s a matter of great pride for me that All India Association of Medical Social Work Professionals is launching first issue of “Indian Journal of Health Social Work” on the auspicious occasion of 6th Annual National Conference of AIAMSWP, 2019. The journal is dedicated to make the profession of Medical and Healthcare Social Work more skillful as well as efficient to understand various facets and issues pertaining to healthcare system of our country. This journal would try to harness practice skills and knowledge of Healthcare Social Workers in this country. It will try to yield new insights into established practices, evaluate new techniques and research, examine current psycho social problems, and bring serious critical analysis to bear on problems in the social work profession. This journal would certainly give emphasis on making health related policies and programmes more apt in addressing the multidimensional and burgeoning health related needs of people of this country. It would try to draw attention of various stakeholders as well as policy makers to devise more humane health policies and programmes. This journal would ask authors to contribute original research works and share their views to turn the field of Healthcare Social Work more close to society. It would try to provide a unifying framework for moving from the theory and expanding it to practice. Using a wide-lens HSW approach, the illustrations focus on actions that can influence populations through strengthened environments and multilevel interventions. The journal appreciates and invites from multifarious field-academia research, communitybased organizations and private practice. We hope to spark a productive national dialogue among social work practitioners, students, academics, social health researchers; policy makers, social service organizations and professional membershi organizations that will stimulate rich discussion about social work practice in health care’s past, present and future. On behalf of the whole team I promise that we would leave no stones unturned to take this journal to new heights. I further, welcome and value your suggestions, comments and ideas for continuously improving it and creating a distinct impact.

(Narendra Kumar Singh)
Chief Editor