New Delhi: The study of the Pandemi period found that the Indian health system struggled with the low number of trained health workers, including nurses, trained paramedics and allied health workers with poor nurse ratios 1.7: 1.
Reports by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) underlines the mixed ratio of Indian skills in health workers with wide variations in all states and reports to estimate the ratio of nurses to a doctor as a whole at 1.7: 1 and that allied health workers to the doctor at 1: 1.
This estimate is more deteriorating if the qualification is considered and given weight.
Workforce-based estimates (NSSO 2017-18) Doctors for nurse ratios are almost 1: 1.3 after adjusting to adequate qualifications.
Compare that with most OECD countries, where there are 3-4 nurses per doctor.
Recommendation Expert Group (HLEG) High-level India for nurse-doctor ratio in India stands at 3: 1.
While some countries have more doctors, others have more nurses.
The ratio of nurses to the doctor ranges from Punjab (6.4: 1) and Delhi (4.5: 1) on the higher side and Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh have less than one nurse per doctor.
Even in Kerala, where the number of nurses is very high, the worker’s nurse to the doctor’s ratio is less than 1: 1.
Nurse workers are basically registered and active nurses.
Similarly, for allied health workers there are major variations throughout the state ranging from more than five allied personnel per doctor allopathic in Himachal Pradesh to as low as a tenth (0.1) allied health professionals per doctor at Bihar.
“In addition to increasing the availability and accessibility of quality health workers by the population in general, increasing investment in human resources for health will lead to strengthening the health system to deal with the situation of a pandemic such as Covid-19 and other epidemics,” reports titled ‘Health Workforce Health India – Why, where and how to invest ‘said.
The picture of the attention was given to the lack of a doctor in this country.
The need for allied health workers, is equally important for the exact delivery of health, not getting the same focus.
It’s time for the authority to start working in this direction to overcome deficiencies, both in quality and quantity.
When unemployment is abundant, sub-part of the health care sector can also be the main job generator.
Some countries such as Delhi, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh have a high nurse ratio but here the density of doctors per 10,000 very low people.
According to the 15th Finance Commission, the nurse-to-population ratio is 1: 670 in India, against the Norma WHO 1: 300.
The report has used data from the National Health Workforce Account (NHWA) on registered health professional stocks and generation surveys Periodic workers (PLF) conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO 2017-18) describing active health workers.
“The right balance in the ratio of mixed skills for health workers provides optimal health care conditions.
Comparing the skillmix ratio with the density of doctors at the state level, a mixture of inefficient skills found between doctors and nurses and doctors and allied health professionals in most countries Parts in India, “said the report.