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Home » Blogs » Skill India Sector » Healthcare Sector Skill Council in India
In recent times, Healthcare has become one of India’s fastest-growing sectors, both in terms of the number of people attached to it and the revenue it generates every year. Healthcare is a broad term it includes hospitals, clinics, Ayurveda, telemedicine, medical tourism, health insurance, medical equipment, social health, homoeopathy, etc. The Healthcare sector is increasing at a high pace cause of the public as well private players in the industry and the constant development of technologies and techniques of healthcare, the number of services that are provided, and the expenditure is done by the government for the development of Future Healthcare.
The two main sectors in which the Indian Healthcare sector is divided are the Private and public sectors. The public sector i.e the Government healthcare sector includes, limited secondary and tertiary care institutions in key cities and focuses on providing basic healthcare facilities in the form of primary healthcare centres in the remote village areas. On the other hand, The private sector provides the majority of secondary, tertiary, and quaternary care institutions with a major concentration in metros and tier I and tier-II cities.
While the developed countries like USA and UK have a properly developed healthcare system, India is not lacking far behind either. Where the Healthcare system in USA and UK have developed Infrastructure and large capital, The advantage for India to reach that level lies in the sheer number of well-trained medical professionals in the sector.
Healthcare is not a single large sector as well, it is an umbrella sector for many other branches of the healthcare sector that it consists of. We will see what those sectors are in a detailed view next.
The healthcare sector in India is divided into 4 sectors, here they are,
1.Allied Health and Paramedics:
Allied health professionals are concerned with the identification, evaluation, and prevention of diseases and disorders. They in common provide dietary and nutrition services; rehabilitation and health systems management, among others. There are a lot of career paths in the allied health sector such as dental hygienists, diagnostic medical sonographers, dietitians, medical technologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, radiographers, respiratory therapists, speech-language pathologists, etc.
Allied health professionals encompass, a large group of health professionals. These professionals are the backbone of the healthcare sector as they use scientific principles and evidence-based practice for the diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of acute and chronic diseases.
Allied health professionals are the ones that are responsible for encouraging people to live a sanitary and healthy life by promoting disease prevention and supporting the overall health care system as the cornerstone of the Industry. They are advocates for the betterment of the health sector and they are an active part of the allied health professions council India.
An Allied Health care professional is to provide the patients with the best healthcare services that meet the best practice standards. They need to Help to rehabilitate people with chronic diseases and people of old age, they have a moral obligation to provide, Safe and responsible healthcare services while respecting people’s rights and dignity.
There are a lot of different healthcare professions and all of them have distinct job roles, hence neither of them has the same job environment and schedule. Some of the allied healthcare professionals work on their own terms, as they might have their own clinic.
While some who work at a hospital or a clinic may have less job flexibility. However, as this is a medical and health-related sector, variable working hours are a possibility when working with an emergency situation patient.
2. Healthcare management:
Healthcare management in India is a relatively new sector of the profession. Before there was not much of a need for doctors and medical practitioners to hire healthcare managers to assist them however with the evolution of time and the exponential growth in the medical sector and the technology applied and changes in health care data system and the laws and regulations related to the healthcare systems.
Healthcare management is just what it sounds like, it is a systematic management of a healthcare facility such as a Clinic or a hospital. It is a deep and developing field of career but the constant increase in the number of baby boomers, the number of doctors, and other medical practitioners is rising to give an opportunity for tremendous growth for Health care managers in recent years.
Healthcare management is a broad team that includes a lot of job responsibilities, like managing the different aspects of the healthcare facility and the office. The different responsibilities could include jobs such as management of staff, budgeting, development of processes, communication across leadership teams, and other varied works.
You would be required to keep a keen eye on the different types of needs and requirements of the facility you are working for. You would need to hire doctors, nurses, and other allied healthcare management associates according to the requirement of the establishment. Helping out the patients with getting appointments, paying bills, filling out important forms, etc.
3. AYUSH:
AYUSH is a system of medicine that is an alternative to the western system of medicine. AYUSH stands for Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy, which are six branches of traditional medicine, that were developed in India and are practised by Indians and some other neighbouring countries.
The Ayurvedic doctor is required to treat the patient holistically with the help of the traditional AYUSH medicine system. The Ayurvedic doctor is responsible for promoting a good and healthy lifestyle among his patients with the help of Naturopathy.
The Ayurvedic Doctor will be required to balance the body, the mind, and the spirit of the patient with the help of different, massage techniques and procedures along with herbal medicines whenever it is necessary.
You will also be required to talk and communicate with the patient and understand what type of medical care they require and keep a close eye on the effectiveness of the undergoing treatment. You need to be skilled as well as empathetic.
And lastly, you would require to refer your patients to other AYUSH practitioners who specialize in the field of medicine and care that your patient needs.
Other branches of occupation in AYUSH which deals with physiotherapy such as Yoga Naturopathy, need to guide step by step to their patient. They must have knowledge of different sub-branches of the practice to fulfil the needs of different needs of the patient such as mindful meditation, power yoga, etc.
Most ayurvedic doctors either chose to be independent and open their own clinic or work at a hospital in an ayurvedic department and/or alternative medicine department. If you don’t want this then an alternative path would be to be a teacher of ayurvedic and alternative medicine and teach the next generation or work as a pharmacist for natural medicine.
An ayurvedic doctor, similar to an allopathy doctor works for odd and extended periods of time. You could be called any time of the day to look after a patient if needed as a part of your duty. At a hospital or a clinic, you would require to work in coordination with other professionals of the health care department, when the condition of the patient demands so.
4. Social work and Community health:
Social workers and community health professionals are on the frontlines of making the public health of the community that they serve, better. They create and maintain a close relationship with the people of the community, especially the elderly as they require the most medical attention.
The social and community health workers need to have a detailed knowledge of the community that they are going to serve. Within the community, their job is to figure out what health-related problems the people in the community are facing and collect viable and relevant data and discuss the problems with the people of the community who are facing them.
community healthcare workers also need to inform the general public about the dos and do nots of health-related issues. They also need to inform the people about different government policies such as Medicaid or medicare along with the benefits of such schemes, so that the people can reap its benefits.
Community health workers also work as a link between the ordinary people and the local government authorities, addressing any barriers to good and prosperous health to the authorities such as problems related to food, housing, education, and mental health services, and work to come up with policies to eradicate such problems.
Other than that they also work in unison with the local or state healthcare educators or healthcare professionals so that they can work better with good quality data, creating new and better healthcare education programs or making changes to the existing ones so that suit the changing times.
Social service workers are considered to be people’s advocates of the health needs and rights of the community members, creating outreach programs to engage community residents, assist residents with health system navigation and in the betterment of the overall health and wellness of the community.
Between the years 1946 and 1964, also commonly called the baby boomer generation approximately seventy-six million people were born. This generation reached its retirement age somewhere near to 2010 and most are still set to between 2025 to 2030. This large number of senior citizens will require intense Medicare and Medicaid, to sustain a proper life.
In 2020, the world went into lockdown due to a global epidemic that lasted for over two years and cost a massive fortune worth of loss to the world economy. Those who have not been directly affected by the covid-19 pandemic, are suffering from the side effects. To take safety precautions, the Industry has seen a massive sum of Capital Investment in the last and current years.
The healthcare industry has become more and more important in recent times than ever before. Not just to the overall community health but also to the entire nation and its economy. A country’s economy, development, and industrialization are co-related to an efficient and effective healthcare system, and it plays a significant part in its further development.
Healthcare Industry also extends to the prevention of diseases in addition to the treatment of them, with campaigns for promoting cleanliness, awareness about obesity, first aid and other related common issues in the society.
Not just physical health but mental health is also an increasing problem, with the lifestyle of the modern era, mental health issues are one of the most common disorders. Healthcare is very necessary to provide therapy, rehab, medicine and cures for these Mental Disorders.
A career in healthcare is very versatile, there are a number of paths to enter the healthcare Industry. Students with bachelor’s degrees in Science or even business have the potential to enter medical and healthcare programs. You may not need to have a major but should at least have good knowledge in subjects such as Biology, chemistry, or life science if you want to practice as a Doctor, pharmacist, or a Pathological Laboratory professional.
IT, Business Management, etc are also Important subjects to be familiar with if you want to take a career path in Healthcare management and allied health.
After your graduation, enrolling yourself in a doctoral or even a master’s program for higher education can open many doors. Working in public health, social work, pathology or therapy can be easier with such educational backgrounds.
To be a medical professional you have to have a bachelor’s degree, four years of training in medical school, experience through various internships and most importantly a medical license to practice medicine.
The healthcare industry is a growing industry with its effects and importance in various branches of society, such as public health, the economy, etc. The Investment done by the government and private stakeholders is immense with more and more development every day. The Government has also taken the liberty to introduce new policies to further develop this sector. This blog on health and wellness has given you a detailed insight into different sub-branches of the Industry and its job roles and the overall opportunities that this sector can provide to the young workforce in the country who wish to serve the community through health care.
