Building a strong cadre of Allied and Healthcare Professionals can be a strategic intervention. This will not only ensure a quality healthcare delivery system but also create millions of meaningful jobs, particularly for women.
Allied and Healthcare Professionals (AHP) make a significant contribution to the healthcare delivery system. They provide range of preventive, technical, diagnostic, therapeutic, rehabilitative and curative services and help in effective functioning of the system. During the time of any health crisis, they are the frontline warriors and help in scaling up healthcare services under the supervision of doctors and nurses. Despite a huge demand for their services, this sector is highly fragmented in India, mainly due to the absence of a central regulatory authority.
In the past, efforts were made to define and regulate AHPs’ role in the healthcare delivery system, but there always has been a tacit resistance by medical fraternity due to the lack of role clarity and its unregulated nature.
In 2011, National Commission for Human Resources for Health Bill which included proposal for constitution of Allied Health (Paramedical) Council and having a one structure for all health professionals (both regulated and unregulated) was strongly opposed by the then Medical, Dental and Indian Nursing Councils (of India) and finally got revised.
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The first formal attempt to understand the role of AHP in the Indian healthcare delivery system was made by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare when they commissioned a study led by the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI). Report of this seminal study — From Paramedics to Allied Health Services — which was published in 2012, defined AHPs’ role as:
“Individuals who are involved with the delivery of health or healthcare related services, with qualification and competence in therapeutic, diagnostic, curative, preventive and/or rehabilitative interventions. They could work in interdisciplinary health teams in varied healthcare setting that include doctors, nurses and public health professionals to promote, protect, treat and/or manage a person’s physical, mental, social, emotional, environmental health and holistic well-being.”
In other words, AHPs services are mainly focused on keeping people ‘healthy’rather than ‘fixing ill-health’. Latter remains in the hands of doctors and nurses.
The recent effort in acknowledging the importance of AHP in the healthcare delivery system is “Allied and Healthcare Professions Bill, 2018”, which was presented to the Rajya Sabha on Jan 31, 2020 and laid to the table of Lok Sabha on the same date. This bill recognises 53 professions of AHPs, bringing working balance between medical professionals and AHPs and setting guidelines for AHPs’ education, services, and regulation. In many ways, this bill is a landmark in recognising the role of AHPs in the healthcare system. Once enacted as an Act and executed in its letter and spirit, it has the potential to create multiple benefits.
Source: Outlook India
