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Contents
Relevance: India needs to focus on Healthcare human resources for improving healthcare.
Pre-cum-Mains GS Foundation Program for UPSC 2026 | Starting from 5th Dec. 2024 Click Here for more information
Contents
Relevance: India needs to focus on Healthcare human resources for improving healthcare.
The Government’s COVID-19 health package II again overlooks the need for and availability of healthcare human resources.
In the mid-1980s, there were a number of government healthcare facilities across the country, with newly constructed buildings, imported state-of-the-art medical equipment such as infant radiant warmers, etc.
These were developed with financial and commodity assistance as part of the overseas development assistance (ODA) from many well-intentioned international donors.
But in the following years, these equipments were packed and stacked in storerooms. A key reason was that while infrastructure was upgraded, there was a perennial shortage of health staff, i.e., doctors, nurses and others
Recently, Union government announced the “India COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Package: Phase II“. The package aims to boost health infrastructure and prepare India for a possible third wave of COVID-19.
But the Package barely has any attention on improving the availability of health human resources.
Even before the novel coronavirus pandemic, as reported in rural health statistics and the national health profile, there are vacancies for staff in government health facilities, which range from 30% to 80%.
In addition to the overall shortage, there are also wider inter-State variations. Compounding the issues, states that have poor health indicators also have the highest healthcare human resource vacancies.
The Government seems to have recognised the gaps in health infrastructure; however, the shortage in the health workforce is barely being discussed.
Read More: Brain drain in the health sector – Explained, Pointwise |
India’s health system will not benefit from ad hoc and a patchwork of one or other small packages. It essentially needs some transformational changes.