Q&A: Hospital task force must be empowered for career progression
There are many institutions that offer education and training for creating doctors and nurses. However, there are no institutes which offer training for creating skilled ground staff in hospitals. City-based Centre for Hospital Human Resource Development (CHHRD) is the first of its kind attempt to fill that gap. Director of CHHRD, Megha Pusalkar, who is also a hospital manager and consultant, monitors the implementation and delivery of the training programmes at the centre. She speaks to Rajesh Rao, explaining why it has become very important to have skilled and qualified ground staff in hospitals and health care centres across India.
Q: Why is there a lack of skilled ground staff at hospitals and health care centres in our country?Ground staff has never been seen as an important task force in hospitals. Moreover, the lack of governance in the health sector has allowed employment of unskilled and non-qualified staff at low salaries. The lack of training centres has further skewed the demand and supply situation, thereby making unskilled ground staff the norm rather than an exception.Q: Is there any sustained effort in providing necessary training for the already employed personnel at hospitals?No, at the moment, there does not seem to be any effort being made to train and develop existing staff. As a result, there is no conversion from unskilled to skilled. This leads to issues in standardisation of compensation, poor career progression; moreover, patient safety continues to be compromised.
Q: How important is the role of a qualified ground staff at hospitals and health centres?It is indeed very crucial. The ground staff not only engage directly with the patient, but also play a very important role in service delivery. A qualified ground staff can greatly enhance the patients' perception of quality of care. Equipped with the right skills ground staff and health care assistants can make the patient feel at ease, cared for, protect their privacy, assist the clinicians and create an environment conducive for good health care.
Q: How can we empower the unqualified hospital ground staff with qualification for career progression?Unqualified ground staff have two issues. Firstly, they do not have qualification and secondly they lack the skills. The former may be easy to accomplish. However, the latter can only be achieved through sound training. Once trained, they not only have a greater capacity to care for their patients, but also a chance to develop more enhanced skills which allow for better compensation and an alleviated status as a health-care provider. This is not just empowering them but also creating opportunities for sustained livelihoods.