Global Association of Physicians of Indian Origin presents position papers on ‘Allied Healthcare and Nurses’ to NITI Aayog

The detailed papers shed light on the solutions for augmenting healthcare workforce capacity in India, and were presented to Dr Vinod Paul, member (health), NITI Aayog and Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog

Boston Consulting Group (BCG), in association with Global Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (GAPIO), jointly released two position papers with an aim to augment the healthcare worker capacity in India. Titled “Reimagining Nurse’s Role in India” and “Formalizing Allied Healthcare Workforce in India,” the detailed papers were presented to Dr Vinod Paul, member (health) NITI Aayog and Amitabh Kant CEO, NITI Aayog, a statement notified.

According to Dr Prathap C Reddy, Founder President, GAPIO, and Founder Chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group, “Nurses are the backbone of every health system. They account for 50 per cent of the global health workforce, their roles are diverse from devoting their lives to caring for mothers and children, giving life-saving immunisations and health advice, and looking after all age groups, including the older people. They are often the first point of care in the communities. As Rawsi Williams once said, “To do what nobody else will do, a way that nobody else can do, in spite of all we go through; that is to be a nurse.” The years 2020 and 2021 are the years of nurses. Allied healthcare workforce also plays a crucial role in diagnosis and treatment. The Government of India defines Allied Healthcare Professionals (AHP) as associates, technicians or technologists supporting the diagnosis and treatment of a medical condition, and support the implementation of any health care and referral plan, as per the recommendation of a qualified health professional. Given the continued shortage of both nurses and allied healthcare workforce in the overall healthcare system, India needs to review and drive transformation in this sector holistically.”

Adding to it, Dr Anupam Sibal, President, GAPIO, and Group Medical Director, Apollo Hospitals Group, said, “Nursing professionals form a significant part of the healthcare delivery system, globally. While India has grown in the training infrastructure substantially in the last few years, the available seats would still not suffice to meet the demand. Many states see a persistent shortage in nursing. It is crucial to plan a holistic strategy for the nursing workforce in India that can comprehensively solve the challenges of adequate nursing staff as well as the quality of education and training of nurses in India.”

Besides, Dr Nandakumar Jairam, Vice President, GAPIO, said, “We continue to face challenges in terms of the quality of AHPs. While there has been some progress, India still has a long way to go in formalising this segment of the workforce and introduce the right quality controls. The Lok Sabha has passed the Allied Healthcare Professions Bill to set up a central body that is responsible for regulatory oversight. This will bring India in line with global benchmarks, that have a nodal agency responsible for designing coursework, standardising nomenclature of existing courses, defining essential qualifications for faculty, and designing upgraded programmes for teachers and students. Hence, ensuring successful rollout of this Bill is of paramount importance.”

In addition to it, Dr Sudhir Parikh, Secretary General, GAPIO, also said, “Studies from MoH&FW and NSSO indicate that demand for allied healthcare workers is significantly higher than supply, with disparity also being observed across states. India could need 60,00,000 – 70,00,000 total AHPs by the year 2024. The current training capacity at ~1.5 lakh seats per year would fall short of achieving our objectives. We need to enhance both the capacity and quality of healthcare workforce.”

To address these challenges, the papers propose an integrated strategy.

According to Priyanka Aggarwal, Managing Director and Partner, Boston Consulting Group, “Solutions for issues concerning nursing need to be addressed. Tagging of colleges with operational multi-specialty hospitals needs to be developed. The attractiveness of the profession needs to be enhanced for better fill rates; including through building social respect for the profession and strengthening professional development and progression. There is an opportunity to enhance current skilling pedagogy and adopt new methodologies and tele nursing, robotic nursing, forensic nursing, etc. and adopt the global best practices. The availability of training faculty for nursing colleges also needs to be improved.”