FICCI, AICTE join hands to bridge skill shortage in healthcare

Ficci has joined hands with All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for developing vocational courses in the healthcare sector with a view to meeting the workforce shortage in the segment. 

The chamber said that an analysis of availability of healthcare human resources from the present bed capacity in the country and underlying demand for building additional capacity shows that the scenario is indeed "alarming". 

"In the next 10 years, the number of doctors needs to be doubled from its current figure of 750,000: nurses needs to be tripled from 3.7 million and the paramedics and technician assistants need to be quadrupled from the present number of 2.75 million," it said in a statement. 

It said that the rapid technological advancement in the medical, diagnostic and management systems are creating the need for new skills. 

"But there are limited formal training and education programmes in the country. Large corporate and privatehospitals run their own training programmes for such requirements which are not standardised and do not have national recognition," it said. 

To address these issues, Ficci has also set up a task force to improve the existing skill sets available in the country by identifying skill gaps and suggesting academic and training programs, related curriculum and appropriate training requirements. 

"For convergence and standardisation of such training programmes, FICCI is collaborating with AICTE to develop vocational courses in the healthcare domain," it said adding the practical training in hospitals is one of the fundamental elements of these programmes, which is aligned with industry requirement. 

Ficci has submitted 12 healthcare and paramedic course curricula to AICTE that include Bachelor in Paramedical Technician in laboratory, blood transfusion, radiography, operation theatre and critical care. 

"All the courses are competency-based modules and are open to revisions to ensure that the curriculum is guided by needs of the industry," it said. 

It added that the courses would soon be notified on AICTE's website and will be open to be taken up by the industry and educational institutes. 

Educational institutes such as schools, colleges and polytechnics will work in partnership with the skill knowledge providers like hospitals and laboratories to scale up the number of trained technicians in the country, it added. 

The AICTE is an advisory body in all matters relating to technical education.