To create a skilled workforce in health sector, AIILSG proposes to enlarge its outreach by opening up nursing colleges in various states. The recent addition was a new nursing college in Ahmedabad
Health is one of the primary duties of the State along with education, in a welfare state like India. For the business sector also, healthy workers mean more productivity. State provides health facilities, mostly at very low cost to the populace. However, to augment the facilities provided by the Government, private sector is also contributing in a big way to provide healthcare at reasonable cost.
Apart from trained medical personnel, there is tremendous demand for support staff in this field. In view of this demand and shortage of trained Nurses all over the country including abroad and considering its employment potential, the Health Department of Government of Gujarat had requested AIILSG to start suitable Nursing Courses. AIILSG started the first batch of the Diploma course in General Nursing & Midwifery Course in September 2004 at its Nursing Academy with the recognition of Gujarat Nursing Council and Indian Nursing Council.
Recently, Rajiv Agarwal, IAS (Retd.), Director General of AIILSG, inaugurated the Nursing College in Ahmedabad. In his inaugural speech, he spoke about the importance of Nursing Schools in the growing scenario of Healthcare. He added that AIILSG proposed to open a nursing college in each State of the country. AIILSG is also planning to set up a National Mission to benefit the students in its various centres who aspire to join the healthcare and sanitation sector.
Health insurance and India
With rising medical cost, there is need for a wider penetration of health insurance. In a country with a population of 1.25 billion people, private health insurance penetration is still only approximately 5 per cent. Moreover, in India the share of out-of-pocket expenditure in overall healthcare expenditure is significantly higher than in comparison to developing countries as well as the developed countries. Healthcare spending in India is focused on low income and Below Poverty Line (BPL) segments.
The primary objective of the government is to make health services universal and accessible to all. However, this cannot be done without involvement of private sector. For the people who are risk averse, it is important to incentivize them by offering some value to them like free health check-ups or discounts, which will help in realizing the goal to make health insurance universal.
To make healthcare available to all sections of the society, health insurance plays an important role. Health care has been one of the fastest growing segments within the insurance industry. However, despite its growth, the penetration of health insurance remains low in the country, rendering a large section of the population open to huge out-of-pocket medical expenses.
Skilled healthcare workforce
There is demand for trained nurses, both in government and private sector. These days, nurses, who can educate or manage other nurses, are in high demand. These career-oriented positions typically pay better, sometimes even into /six figures, but do require additional education. Management, education, and advocacy are three essential roles in recruiting more high quality professional nurses to the field who can adapt new Technologies.