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Skill India: Gaining pace in healthcare

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The private sector in India is undertaking several skilling and training programmes to scale up the number and quality of human resources in healthcare By Lakshmipriya Nair

India is poised on the precipice of an evolution which can transform it into a global economic power. But, a severe crunch of skilled manpower has become a manacle restraining the country’s growth trajectory and impeding its global competitiveness. The Labour Bureau Report 2014 revealed that only two per cent of the Indian workforce is skilled; and a mere 6.8 per cent of the population aged 15 years had received or were receiving skills training.

Realising the urgent need to invest in skilling and training available human capital, the Government of India launched the Skill India initiative in 2015 to build a workforce which is responsive and competent to deal with the altering dynamics of the economy. It aims to empower 500 million people with the right tools for better employment by the year 2020. The National Skill Development Mission and the new National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015 have been some of the significant endeavours under ‘Skill India’ in this direction. In the recent past, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana-2, India International Skill Centres, IndiaSkills Online and a Labour Management Information System (LMIS), which were also inaugurated by President Pranab Mukherjee at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.

Healthcare is one of the sectors which is in dire need of skilled professionals. A study by Public Health Foundation of India for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare exposed that there is approximately 97.9 per cent skill gap across various verticals of healthcare. It had also highlighted that India had a requirement for around 6.5 million allied healthcare professionals (AHP) while the current supply is less than 300,000.

In a bid to address this massive gap, the Healthcare Sector Skill Council (HSSC), under the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), has also committed to skill 4.8 million people in a phased manner over the next decade in the healthcare space. Thus, there seems to be increased impetus to skill healthcare professionals. The private healthcare sector too has taken up the mantle of ensuring that healthcare resource gap is mitigated. A slew of initiatives have been introduced to train and skill professionals in healthcare and allied sectors in the past few years such as:

GE Healthcare: Partnering with the government

GE has tied up with leading healthcare and education experts and set up institutes across the country. These institutions will reportedly train and instruct over 100,000 new and existing healthcare professionals over the next five years. Speaking at its announcement in April 2015, John L Flannery, President and CEO, GE Healthcare, said, “The initiative is among the largest skill enhancement programmes for GE Healthcare in the world. This is a great example of how we can  use  our  scale  and  experience  to  partner  with  India. We hope that the skilling of 100,000 healthcare professionals will address an important government priority of bridging the skill deficit.”

The first institute, fully funded and run by GE India, is based in Mumbai while the second one is in partnership with Max Institute of Healthcare Education and Research (MIHER). The company has also signed MOU with several other private and public partners to set up healthcare education and training institutes across India. It plans to set up at least one institute per state over the next five years, helping to train over 100,000 new and existing healthcare professionals through courses ranging from radiologists to cardiologists; from process excellence to finance.

Teleradiology Solutions: Educating the radiologists

In another noteworthy venture, Teleradiology Solutions, in collaboration with National Board of Medical Examiners, is offering online radiology education to post graduate radiology graduates across the country through its flagship e-learning portal www.radguru.net. It is an endeavour to address the acute scarcity of radiologists in India.

At the launch of the venture in September 2015, Dr Arjun Kalyanpur, Chief Radiologist and Co-founder of Teleradiology Solutions, had highlighted that  there are only 10,000 radiologists for a population of over a billion, necessitating technology innovations such as teleradiology and e-learning.

The portal offers interactive and stimulating training for radiology residents through live case discussions, quizzes and an archive of interesting cases – reviewed and guest lectures conducted by national and international faculty from institutions like Yale, UMass, Baylor, Harvard etc. Reportedly, the partnership with the National Board of Examiners allows over 800 postgraduate students in radiology to acquire training from Radguru’s faculty. This platform is another attempt to bridge the rising gap in healthcare education across the country.

Tech Mahindra: Skilling the SMART way

Skilling is being undertaken as part of Corporate Social Responsibility too. For instance, Tech Mahindra Foundation has launched the Tech Mahindra SMART Academy for Healthcare in Delhi, in collaboration with the HarijanSewakSangh – a social development organisation founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1932. It has two purposes: skill paramedics for the healthcare sector and at the same time create employment for people from low-income families.

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Loveleen Kacker

Loveleen Kacker, CEO, Tech Mahindra Foundation said, “One of the major challenges in the Indian health sector as on date is the non-availability of trained allied health professionals. In fact, there is a shortage of over 14 lakh such professionals. The Tech Mahindra CSR initiative intends to bridge some of this gap. The focus would be to evolve a well-designed and delivered training programme which would create a pool of allied health professionals. The training would comprise classroom lectures, laboratory exposure, internship in hospitals as well as seminars/ workshops conducted by experienced faculty.”

She added, “The conceptual framework of module/ curriculum has been designed as per Health Sector Skill Council benchmark- a part of NSDC. The modules are designed as per the benchmark of National Occupational Standards (NOS). The focus will be to give priority to students from low-income families. They are being charged a miniscule (20 per cent) of the sum being currently charged by other institutes offering similar courses. A six months course fee including tuition fees, uniform, books and certification is pegged at Rs 8600 only. There is also an option of scholarship/ subsidy on this sum for very needy students. If the Smart Academy for Healthcare creates a pool of professionals, it will in a small way, surely improve the healthcare scenario in the country.”

Tech Mahindra Foundation intends to seek recognition from the NSDC and affiliation from the HSSC.

BD: Training for best practices

Recently, Becton, Dickinson & Co (BD) and Healthcare Sector Skill Council (HSSC) have also joined hands to develop co-branded training modules for ‘Phlebotomy Technician Course’. The venture aims to offer training on best practices in phlebotomy to laboratory personnel and make them more employable.

As the Knowledge Partner in this initiative, BD has developed a training module for candidates enrolled for fresh training as well as RPL (Recognition of prior learning) training for the phlebotomy technician course run by HSSC. BD will also train the master trainers who will in turn, impart the training to healthcare professionals and support them in driving best practices in pre-analytical processes for more accurate diagnosis.

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Varun Khanna

On the occasion, Varun Khanna – MD-BD India & South Asia, said, “At a time when the Skill India Movement is looking at bringing about convergence and focusing on industry linkages, this initiative comes as BD’s commitment to enhance the skills of laboratory technicians. It will address the shortage in human resources both in terms of skill and number leading to universal health coverage for all. Through the standardised curriculum in phlebotomy training with HSSC, together we will be able to enhance the clinical practices in creating sustainable improvements in Indian healthcare.”

Positive Bioscience: Empowering the doctors

Initiatives to spread awareness and educate medical professionals about medical disciplines which are lesser adopted but have huge potential are also being undertaken. For instance, Positive Bioscience, a genomics player has introduced Positive – Academy for Training in Genomics and Clinical applications (ATGC) to help oncologists gain competency at using genomics in their practice. The initiative will be rolled out across the country in association with ICON and Molecular Oncology Society (MOS).

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Samarth Jain

“Positive ATGC workshops have been designed to enhance the education of clinical oncology professionals on the topics of cancer genomics, cancer risk assessment, and application of precision medicine in clinical practice. The workshops will include topics on technology and equipment, understanding and applying genomic report to clinical practice, as well as concept of pathways and its utility in clinical practice. Positive ATGC will conduct six-month training programmes on genomics for doctors. It will  conduct regular workshops in Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Mumbai. Participants of the workshop will be awarded a certificate, which will be accepted as CME. The workshops will also be available online. Positive Academy for ATGC aims to reach out to over 200+ doctors by 2017,” informs Samarth Jain, Co-Founder and CEO, Positive Biosciences.

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“With the vast increase in knowledge stemming from genetics research and the development of new technologies in genomics, Genetics education and training of oncologists is critical for building capacities to understand, interpret, and appropriately apply such information. As the advancement of genetic technologies accelerates, so must the education and training efforts. This initiative is our contribution to enabling the integration of genomics into clinical practice, so that patients in India can benefit,” adds Jain.

NH-Infosys Foundation: Training robotic surgeons

In a similar endeavour, Narayana Health recently launched the Institute of Robotic Surgery supported by Infosys Foundation at its flagship unit at Narayana Health City. At the launch of the institute, Dr Devi Shetty, Chairman – Narayana Health, said, “Infosys  Foundation donated ‘da Vinci Surgical Robot’ to develop Infosys  Institute of Robotic Surgery to train robotic surgeons for the future. The philosophy of creating the institution is to train any surgeon with a passion to learn robotic surgery and certify them to start robotic surgical programme in different parts of the country. NH Foundation along with Infosys Foundation strongly believes that this is the only way robotic surgery services will be available to the common man of this country”.

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Dr Saurabh Bhargava

Speaking on the partnership, Dr Saurabh Bhargava, Head of Urology Department, Consultant Urologist and Uro-Onco Surgeon at Narayana Health City, said, “Our training programme is mentor – based rather than building patient base to have a learning experience. We have acquired skills, so that we have competence to train others, that’s what needs to be done. So the learning experience takes place with a mentor in place at Narayana Health.” The training is provided in a phased manner. Phase 1 includes basic training explaining the concepts, technology, features and functionalities. The operating surgeon has to first understand the technical aspects of its work, how to set it up, how each part works and its role. Then the surgeon attends a simulator workshop and practices on mannequins, followed by a period of observation. Then, with a mentor in place, the surgeon begins with simple techniques, gradually moves on to more complex surgeries.

Elaborating further, Dr Bharghava informed, “We, in partnership with the Infosys Foundation, have pledged to carry out robotic surgeries at no additional cost for a significant proportion of people, thereby making it more affordable, in the long run. In order to fulfil the objective, we intend to have a broad base of well-trained surgeons, anaesthetists and nursing staff.” Thus the aim of the initiative is to create a pool of individuals who can undertake robotic surgeries and procedures. He adds, “We have taken a leaf out of the Skill India programme which talks about having a broad pyramid base in order to deliver to a large section of the society. We have also incorporated a robust mentoring process whereby these professionals share and exchange knowledge easily, thereby helping to overcome the learning curve in a shorter spell of time.”

Creating a skilled India

These are just a few of the ventures undertaken by the private sector to create a more skilled workforce in the healthcare sector. Yet, they comprise only the tip of the iceberg. A lot more needs to be done to alleviate the problem. We need many such programmes to be undertaken at a large scale to meet the huge demand for skilled human resources. However, there are multiple ways in which the private sector can contribute significantly to address this issue. One of them would be to collaborate with the government to research, analyse and set quality standards for training courses. They can also help reduce the skill-job mismatch and wastage of talent by offering more on-the-job training and invest in training infrastructure. These measures would help to significantly improve the impact, reach and quality of skilling programmes.

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