A job market has many factors that depend on the healthcare system of a country. India, a constantly growing country, has a history that has shown gains in its medical industry over the years. An increase in the workforce not only betters the quality of healthcare service but also allows more economic opportunities for the country and those who plan to move there.
Today’s healthcare system in India has been greatly influenced through the Report on the Health Survey and Development Committee in 1946. This report recommended a three-tiered healthcare system to maintain preventive health care with government-funded health workers. This was done to lessen the private practitioners and provide access to people regardless of socioeconomic status. Later on, the National Health Policy of India (NHP) was established in 1983 and aimed to ensure primary healthcare services through basic equipment needed as well as volunteer healthcare workers creating systematic referral procedures and an interconnected network of specialty facilities. Over time, these policies have shown an advancing healthcare system that still needs to expand its workforce to further deliver quality healthcare to patients.
An Improving Public Healthcare System
India has both public and private healthcare sectors. The Constitution of India expresses the right to health for each Indian citizen. Citizens can receive free outpatient and inpatient care in government hospitals and community centers. While services are universal, the system can have shortages in medical equipment and staff. Urban India has the majority of the private healthcare providers with secondary and tertiary healthcare services more often found in these areas. The rural parts of the country are still working on developing more specialized healthcare facilities and services.
With the intention of bringing more rural doctors and medical services, the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was focused on mitigating maternal and child mortality. This mission strengthened the public healthcare sector in the country. It aimed to boost the budget on public healthcare, decrease inequity among citizens receiving healthcare services, and decentralize the operationalization of healthcare facilities looking towards the Indian Public Health Standard’s norms. The government aimed to increase public spending from 0.9% to 2-3% of GDP.8 in favor of an advancing healthcare system.
Positive Impact of Increased Workforce Funding
The Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health: Workforce 2030 Report highlights the benefits of sufficient allocation of funds towards healthcare workers. The accessibility, hiring, availability, and coverage contribute to overall social and economic development along with improvements in population health.
The impact of such an investment can be optimized by knowing which areas of the workforce to focus on. The country would need to gather information on its current workforce, analyze and evaluate the workload and staff distribution pattern, and track each medical professional’s skill mix and training and capacity building. Recent findings show that the more varied the skill mix, the better the quality of care, life, and job satisfaction.
Fortunately, the vast investor demand in the Indian hospital industry shows growing numbers in funding. This industry is expected to grow from $ 61.8 bn in 2017 to $132 billion in 2023.
Need for Healthcare Workers
A study entitled “Size, composition and distribution of health workforce in India: why, and where to invest?” revealed the country’s needs in terms of healthcare workers. While there is a massive pool of well-trained medical workers in the country, more is still needed. The research states that per 10,000 population, there is a very low density of health professionals. WHO cites that India requires a minimum of 1.8 million doctors, nurses, and midwives to reach the required threshold of 44.5 healthcare workers per 10,000 citizens in 2030.
Furthermore, India’s National Health Policy (NHP) 2017 stated the need to strengthen the existing medical education system and develop mid-level care providers. In connection to this, New India @ 75 has brought about NITI Aayog’s strategy to create 1.5 million job positions in the public health sector by 2022–23. Moreover, the number of India-trained doctors and nurses in OECD countries has been of significant positive impact. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the toil healthcare workers in the nation endure due to the shortage of trained staff members.
Factors in the Job Market Growth
The job market for healthcare workers has further heightened in June of 2021. Several factors come into play that have resulted in such an expansion:
Growing Elderly Population
Life expectancy is rising in the country and is projected to reach over 70 years by 2022. This means even more medical services will be required, especially those who fall into this rising population’s age bracket.
Disease Burden
Fifty percent of the disease burden in India is from Non-Communicable Diseases. These diseases also cause around 60% of deaths. There is a need for more healthcare workers to provide quality services for these types of illnesses.
Trends in Medical Tourism
The comparably low cost of medical care in the country has tourists coming from around the world to receive affordable medical treatment. The industry is seeing a growth of around 22-25%. This heightened demand for healthcare and medical devices from the rise in medical tourism adds above $2 billion to the healthcare market.
Rising Popularity of Telemedicine
The increased interest in telehealth has increased government initiatives such as E-consults tied in with tax benefits and incentives, proving to increase the advancements of the healthcare market in India.
Attracting the Fitting Demographic
So as to accommodate the boom in the healthcare industry in India coupled with its own need for more healthcare workers is the continued migration of Indian medical workers to other countries. The Indian healthcare industry must increase the education sector’s involvement and recruit internationally trained medical workers to fill this gap.
Key Takeaways
Despite the staff shortage, India’s job market is continuously growing as the country sees a flourishing industry. The public healthcare system is advancing through larger investments and funding, aiming to narrow the workforce gap. The opportunities and resources for growth in the medical industry in the country are immense.
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