About the Department

The Department of Community Medicine, JIPMER Karaikal, is involved in teaching and training MBBS students across various semesters and interns posted in the department. The department is committed to undergraduate medical education, community-based training, public health service delivery, and research. The department is situated on the 2nd floor of the Academic Building, JIPMER Karaikal.

Academic Activities

The Department of Community Medicine provides training to MBBS students from the first to the seventh semester through theory classes, practical sessions, field visits, and Community Diagnosis (CD) postings. In the early semesters, students learn the basics of public health, epidemiology, sociology, health systems, and health indicators. Teaching includes classroom sessions and field exposure to health centres and community settings.

Community Diagnosis postings form a major part of training. Survey CD focuses on research skills. Students learn how to develop research questions, conduct surveys, collect data using digital tools, analyse data, and present their findings. Integrated CD covers key public health areas such as non-communicable diseases, communicable diseases, maternal and child health, and health systems. Students attend sessions, participate in discussions, and visit facilities such as health systems, Milk factory, Water treatment plant, Meteorological centre, and other environmental services. Office and Clinical CD focus on patient-based learning. Students are trained in clinico-social case work, including antenatal care, postnatal care, tuberculosis, under-five care, diabetes, and hypertension. They visit hospitals, PHCs, CHCs, and national health programme offices. Training includes case discussions, presentations, and assessments through records and viva.

The Family Health Advisory Programme (FHAP) provides longitudinal learning. Students follow families over time. They learn communication skills, family assessment, and management of common health problems. They present family cases, plan interventions, and undergo OSCE-based assessments. Regular internal assessments, revision sessions, and final evaluations are conducted.

Interns are posted in Urban and Rural Health Centres and in the department. They take part in service delivery, seminars, and record-based learning. This helps them connect classroom learning with real public health practice.

Health Centres (Training Linkages)

Since October 2025, the Department of Community Medicine, JIPMER Karaikal, has established academic and training linkages with an Urban Primary Health Centre (UHC) at Thirunagar and a Primary Health Centre (PHC) at T.R. Pattinam. These are Government health facilities functioning under the State Health Department. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is under process, with approval obtained from the District Administration. The department supports training of undergraduate students and interns through field-based learning, and posts Senior Residents, Medical Social Workers, and interns for academic and public health activities. The department has started screening for cervical cancer (papsmear) in collaboration with the dept of Obstetrics Gynecology and Dept of Pathology. Culture and sensitivity of specimens is initiated in collaboration with the Dept of Microbiology. Our department has actively participated in national health programs like Pulse Polio, TB Mukt Panchayat, World TB Day, Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week.

Urban Health Centre (UHC), Thirunagar: Serves a population of 9,144. Provides outpatient care, NCD clinic, antenatal care, well baby clinic, and adolescent health services. Laboratory services and free medicines are available.

Rural Health Centre (PHC), T.R. Pattinam: Serves a population of 21,280 through the main centre and subcentres. Provides outpatient and preventive services including NCD clinic, antenatal care, well baby clinic, adolescent health services, and Village Health and Nutrition Days.

Department of Community Medicine, JIPMER Karaikal

Public Health Activities

The department is actively engaged in a wide range of public health and community-based activities. These include general health and screening camps, school health camps involving screening and health education, awareness rallies, poster competitions, foundation course and orientation programmes, and guest lectures at colleges. The department has also contributed to All India Radio talks on themes such as Tobacco Day, COVID, antimicrobial resistance, and rabies. It has been involved in training Karaikal health staff in COVID-related activities, water purification, tobacco control, and tuberculosis. Other important activities include community survey, community diagnosis, AMR Awareness Week, World TB Day, Pulse Polio, TB Mukth Panchayat, and participation in district outbreak teams for cholera and COVID.

Ongoing Research Projects

Dr. Avinash Kumar

• Voices of Change: A Qualitative Exploration of Measles Vaccination Barriers and Facilitators in Karaikal District, Puducherry (Principal Investigator)
• Bridging the Gap: A hybrid Spaced Retrieval Model: Integrating Case-Anchored Microlearning with a board game for Pharmacology knowledge retention and clinical application – an exploratory sequential mixed method design (Co-Investigator)
• Effectiveness of a Structured Applied Research Module During Community Medicine Posting in Improving Research Skills of Undergraduate Medical Students (Co-Investigator)
• Early Diagnosis of COPD in India: Development and Validation of COPD Early Detection (COPeD) Screening Tool (Co-Guide)
• Community Health Workers Knowledge, Attitude and Practices Related to Hearing Screening in Preschool Children in Karaikal (Co-Guide)
• Competency-Based Skills Training Module for Undergraduate Medical Students (Co-PI)

Dr. Karthik Balajee

• Expert Consensus on Role of Secondary Healthcare in India’s Health System: A National Delphi Study (PI)
• Competency-Based Skills Training Module for Undergraduate Medical Students (PI)
• Effectiveness of a Structured Applied Research Module During Community Medicine Posting in Improving Research Skills of Undergraduate Medical Students (PI)
• Voices of Change: Barriers and Facilitators of Measles Vaccination (Co-PI)
• AMROR: Strengthening Antibiotic Surveillance System in Karaikal – An Operational Research (Co-PI)
• Developing Prediction Model for Biochemical Analytes in hemolyzed newborn samples (Co-PI)
• Comparison of topical ciprofloxacin vs moxifloxacin as preoperative prophylaxis in cataract surgery – RCT (Co-PI)
• Diagnostic utility of PLAG1 immunocytochemistry versus PLAG1 gene expression in Category IV of MILAN system for classifying salivary gland neoplasms (Co-PI)
• Effect of Passive Smoking on TSH Level and Mean Arterial BP in Pregnant Women (Co-Guide)
• Prevalence and phenotypic characterisation of carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative bacilli in a secondary care hospital in South India (Co-Guide)
• Evaluation of Myxovirus Resistance Protein A (MxA) as a Biomarker for Viral Infections in Adults – A Prospective Exploratory Study (Co-Guide)
• Effectiveness of ‘SEE–TRY–FEEL–TEACH’ Training on Breastfeeding Attachment and Positioning: A Pre-Post Interventional Study in District Hospital (Co-Guide)
• Plasma Butyrate Levels in Adults with Lower Limb Varicosities and its Association with Revised Venous Clinical Severity Scores: A Pilot Case-Control Study (Co-Guide)
• Performance Assessment of Whole Slide Imaging versus Light Microscopy in Undergraduate Gastrointestinal Pathology Practical Teaching: A Randomized Comparative Study Methodology (Co-Guide)

Activities and Events

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Awareness Program on World Suicide Prevention Day JIPMER Karaikal	Download

Activities and Events

The department has conducted and participated in several academic and public health events. One of the listed activities is the Awareness Program on World Suicide Prevention Day at JIPMER Karaikal.

The following are presentations at MEDUCON 2026 at JIPMER Puducherry in April 2026

• “Development and Implementation of a Rubric for Assessment of Community Diagnosis Record Notebooks with AI-Assisted Scoring” received the best paper award for methodology Viswanath Narendiran, Karthik Balajee Laksham, Avinash Kumar, Arthi Arunagiri, Mohanasundaram Mourougan. Department of Community Medicine, JIPMER Karaikal
• Structured Role-Play with Multisource Formative Assessment to Enhance Communication Skills during Early Clinical Exposure: An Interdepartmental InterventionDr. Bitty Ragavan¹, Dr. Karthik Balajee Laksham¹, Dr. Sathish Babu M ², Dr. Vijay Kishan³,¹Department of Community Medicine, ² Department of Biochemistry, ³ Department of Anatomy, JIPMER Karaikal, India

• Bridging the Skills Gap in Cervical Cancer Screening: A Simulation-Based, Competency-Oriented Pap Smear Training Using a Low-Cost Cervical Model for MBBS Interns at JIPMER Karaikal Nanthini Saravanan¹, Karthik Balajee Laksham ², Arun Kumar Karthikeyan³, Vijaya Lakshmi B¹, Jeyakumari Duraipandian⁴, Arthi A ² ¹Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, ² Department of Community Medicine, ³Department of Pathology, ⁴ Department of Microbiology, JIPMER Karaikal, India

• Effectiveness of a Mental Health Literacy and Coping Skills Awareness Session for Undergraduate Medical Students: A Pre-Post Study Dr. Karthik Balajee L¹, Dr. Gokulraj M², Dr. Avinash Kumar1, Dr. Kiruthika S³, Dr. Jeyakumari D⁴, Ragul Ganesh⁵¹ Dept of Community Medicine; ²Dept of Psychiatry; ³ Officer in-Charge, Student Affairs; ⁴ Officer in-Charge, Academic Section JIPMER Karaikal; ⁵ Dept of Psychiatry, JIPMER Puducherry