Health Workers' Migration Is Good If Their Density Isn't Vulnerable In India: Health Secy
The migration of health workers is good, as the global economy revolves around it and it is bad only when the patient-to-doctor ratio, nurse-to-patient ratio, or patient-to-bed ratio is vulnerable.
When this ratio is not vulnerable, we can even leverage the migration of health workers because these are the people who will create brand equity for India, as the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) has done in the USA and doctors of Indian origin have done in the UK.
This was stated by Union Health Secretary, Rajesh Bhushan on the international migration of health workers as he was addressing a CEO roundtable on medical-value travel in India at the 6th edition of Advantage Healthcare India 2023 (AHCI 2023). He further mentioned that we should strengthen our medical education system while encouraging people to migrate.
Last month, WHO updated its health workforce support and safeguards list for 2023, identifying 55 countries as vulnerable for the availability of health workers required to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal target for universal health coverage (UHC) by 2030.
India was not a part of this list. Its neighbours, such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh, were on this list. These countries have a density of doctors, nurses, and midwives below the global median, i.e., 49 per 10,000 population, and a universal health coverage service coverage index below a certain threshold.
"Health workers are the backbone of every health system, and yet 55 countries with some of the world’s most fragile health systems do not have enough, and many are losing their health workers to international migration," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
The impact of COVID-19 and widespread disruptions to health services has resulted in a rapid acceleration in the international recruitment of health workers, the WHO report added.
Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Dr Bharati Pawar, last year, told Rajya Sabha on July 26 that, "There are 13,08,009 allopathic doctors registered with the State Medical Councils and the National Medical Commission (NMC) as of June 2022. Assuming 80 per cent availability of registered allopathic doctors and 5.65 lakh AYUSH doctors, the doctor-population ratio in the country is 1:834 which is better than the WHO standard of 1:1000."
However, the Rural Health Statistics 2021 released by the health ministry showed that across rural and urban areas, there is a 7 per cent shortfall of doctors at primary health centres and a 57 per cent shortfall of doctors at community health centres.
The Health Secretary also commented on the importance of maintaining optimal standards in pharma. Bhushan conveyed, "The pharmaceutical industry in India is a 24 billion-dollar industry. If a company doesn't abide by the standards and uses less than satisfactory standards, then the entire industry gets a bad name."
Hence, he added that even in our zeal to grab the idea or to ride on the bandwagon, the focus should be on the quality of service and maintaining that service. Bhushan also recommended that the interaction between private stakeholders and policymakers be institutionalised.
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