Shortage of healthcare professionals. How can india combat?

India is fighting warfare to combat the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. The healthcare system in India is very close to a difficult or dangerous situation, with many hospitals unable to handle the persistent arrival of patients at the same time also running short of beds, oxygen cylinders and other essentials, and now the dearth of vaccines as well. If there had been enough beds, oxygen supplies, ventilators and other essential resources, if the healthcare system had been better prepared for the second wave, many lives could have been saved. It's not a second wave - it's a tsunami that is happening.

The healthcare professionals in India includes largely eight categories, namely: doctors (allopathic, alternative medicine); nursing and midwifery professionals; public health professionals (medical, non-medical); pharmacists; dentists; paramedical workers (allied health professionals); grass-root workers (frontline workers); and support staff.

As we are preparing to equip ourselves with more ICU beds, ventilators, oxygen supply etc., the direction in which we also need to focus is the shortage of skilled personnel i.e, doctors, nurses and other paramedical staff. Getting the human resources to run the new infrastructure is the bigger challenge. We cannot create human resources overnight. This shortage of healthcare professionals is severely affecting the response to COVID -19.

According to World Health Organisation (WHO), India was suffering from a shortage of healthcare professionals even before the pandemic, The nurse to patient ratio for India is only 1:483, i.e. 2.1 nurses per 1000 population.  This worker's statistic indicates that the country is in a “critical shortage of healthcare providers” category. India faces the problem of acute shortages and unbalanced dispersals of skilled healthcare workers as have many other low- and middle-income countries. Not only is there a shortage of health professionals, but these workers are also determined in urban areas, sending off rural areas with a lack of quality care.

Nurses who have finished their training but are yet to take their final exams. These trained nurses should be deployed to work in COVID ICUs, Similarly, the young medical student waiting for exam should also serve in COVID care units. While relinquishing these nurses and doctors the focus should be on government hospitals in urban as well as rural areas.

Doctors and nurses should work in shifts and take proper rest so that there are less chances of getting infected and level of mental and physical fatigue can also decline

More emphasis should be given on short-term courses related to the paramedical field and allied areas as well and promoting them broadly so that there should have more skilled and qualified professionals assisting the doctors in intensive care units.

Note: The views expressed in this article are that of the ICRI/ ILAM institute and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha