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PLANNING OF HEALTHCARE HUMANRESOURCE

By Dr. Gunjan Sharma

INRODUCTION
India is a developing nation which ranks second among the most populated countries
of the world. Healthcare is an important issue for any country and for India it is an
issue of concern as we are burdening our weak health care system every moment with
increasing number of births and diseases. Five year plans and National health policies
deal with improving our health care system. Government of India works extensively
on these plans and policies and grants large amount of sum for them. This article will
deal with the importance of such policies and plans for human resource management
of health care professionals.

Healthcare is a sector which is a highly labour intensive. It requires large number of

human resource. Healthcare in it self is a very sensitive sector as one is not dealing
with production of machines or materials but human lives. This fact arises an extra
caution in case of this sector. Without qualified doctors and nurses a healthcare
facility is of no use. One of the most important facts in healthcare sector is its
unpredictable nature. A health emergency can attack all of a sudden. One can take
example from any country; a sudden outburst of any deadly disease can shake the
foundation of the health care system of a country. More over every individual on this
earth is a potential consumer for healthcare sector, every one faces health concerns at
one or the other point of time in lifetime. When we have to deal with such a large
population base of a country planning becomes highly important. Five year plans and
National health policies focus on the planning aspect of this sector.

FIVE YEAR PLANS:

11th five year plan points out on major human resource management problems in
healthcare and provides with some solutions for the same. Some of the important
steps planned by Government of India are as follows: (Sharma, Goyal ; 2010)

• In India disparity of availability of qualified medical professionals in rural and

urban areas is a major cause of concern. In response to it the 11th five year plan
ensures monetary and non monetary incentives to medical professionals
working in rural areas.

• According to 11th five year plan a suitable data bank of health professionals
along with registration of all medical professionals after every five years will
help in ensuring quality care by qualified professionals.

• With advances and application in technology all over the world government,
Government of India is also adapting these changes in its systems. 11th five
year plan stresses on the development of Human Resource Management
Information system. This would definitely help people intensive healthcare
sector

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NATIONAL HEALTH POLICY 2002:

Some of the major areas of concern in Healthcare human resource management where
the policy focuses are: (Sharma, Goyal; 2010)

• Deployment of doctors and nurses in healthcare sector does not follow any
norms and this leads to shortage of required staff. National health policy 2002
stresses the need of minimal statutory norms for deployment of doctors and
nurses. In this way medical institutes of India can be equipped with adequate
qualified staff.

• National health policy plans to set up Medical Grants commission for funding
new and existing medical colleges. The policy also stresses on the need of
modifying syllabus for healthcare professionals to more of skills oriented
rather than theoretical. It also talks about continued medical education of
professionals to upgrade their skills.

• India lacks specialists in some major fields of health care, specially public
health and family medicine. To tackle this problem National health policy
2002 has laid stress on increasing seats at post graduation level.

SHORTAGE OF HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS:

Out of various components of Five year plans and National Health Policy 2002, the
components talking about the shortage of healthcare professionals interested me the
most. An interesting point in Five years plan is that almost since last 50 years these
plans have been talking about providing adequate Doctor – Patient ratio but still India
lacks adequate healthcare manpower. Our health care policies and plans emphasize on
the need of starting new medical colleges and increasing seats in existing colleges but
will this step really solve the problem or will produce substandard doctors which will
harm the innocent people? We need to look at the root level of the problem. Indian
education system needs many changes to overcome such problems of manpower
shortage. Our education system is based on evidence based protocols proving good in
theory and poor in practice. The major fault lies with us; we are producing graduates
in modern medicine with modern facilities without teaching adoption to poor patients
and rural need (Rao, 2008). These Plans and Policies focus mainly on healthcare
professionals working for public sector. However today most of the qualified
professionals are situated in private sectors. The focus must also be on how to
mobilize and motivate them towards poor and rural patients.

ROLE OF HOSPITAL AND HEALTHCARE ADMINISTRATORS

As a Hospital and Healthcare administrator we need to keep ourselves updated with
these plans and policies as they mark the framework on which we need to work at
micro level. For instance we need to know the about various new medical institutions,
new courses launched by government of India, amendments made in salary structure
of doctors, about various policies like NRHM etc. The knowledge of these will help
us work in accordance with the changing environment of the health care sector in

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India and will also help us utilise this information for better human resource
management in the organization we will work for.

ANNUAL REPORT OF MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY

WELFARE:

Five year plans and National health policies only inform us about the proposed
changes that Government of India would like to bring about in coming years but to
keep a track on the activities of these policies and plans one can refer to the annual
report of Ministry of health and family welfare. It would provide a clear picture of the
advances made in the light of these plans and policies.

CONCLUSION:
We can play an important role in Indian Healthcare sector. Effective application and
supervision of these plans and policies is required if we want to fulfil them. With the
help of effective management tools that have made their presence felt in corporate
sector of the world, we can enhance the Indian health care system. Need of the hour is
to find the best possible ways to strengthen the Indian healthcare system. Only putting
up policies on paper which do not provides feasible solution will be no use. Hence if
we make the best practical use of these plans and policies then we can move towards
effective management of human resources in healthcare.

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REFERENCES:

• D.K. Sharma , R.C. Goyal , “ Health services through five year plans”.
Hospital Administration and Human Resource Management , 5th edition
(2010).

• D.K. Sharma , R.C. Goyal , “National Health Policy 2002”. Hospital

Administration and Human Resource Management , 5th edition (2010).

Dr. T.V. Rao , M.D. ; “Crisis in Indian Medical Education - Time to Verify the
Issues”. www.articlebase.com (ArticlesBase SC #386192 - April 14 2008)
http://www.articlesbase.com/medicine-articles/crisis-in-indian-medical-
education- time-to-verify-the-issues-386192.html

Annual Report 2008-2009, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

(www.mohfw.nic.in)

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PLANNING OF HEALTHCARE HUMAN RESOURCE – Dr.Gunjan Sharma