A health labour market analysis requires a systematic study of both, the demand and supply of the health care workers in order to determine the shortages faced thereof. The demand hereby is linked to the demand for healthcare services in the market. However, the supply depends majorly on the wage rates offered by the public and private institutions. Higher the wages, added up with good working conditions and career opportunities, the more are the healthcare workers willing to serve the healthcare sector.
Chhattisgarh, a relatively young state of India, being carved out of Madhya Pradesh has faced significant shortage of doctors and nurses. The state was henceforth chosen for carrying out Health Labour Market Analysis. The analysis was worked upon two policy questions say
- Is the production of health workers in Chhattisgarh sufficient to meet current demand, and how can the recruitment and deployment process be improved?
- What are the health workforce elements to consider for a successful rolling out of the health workers in Chhattisgarh?
The analysis was carried out based on Health Labour Market (HLM) Approach. The approach examined several factors that affect supply and demand of specialists, doctors and nurses, capacity of health care sector of the state to recruit and pay, distributional factors related to the nursing and medical workforce in Chhattisgarh.
The analysis came up with several policy recommendations to meet up the shortage of health care workers available in the state and to motivate a flexible hiring process like.
- Time bound recruitment processes
- Modifying selection rules by direct recruitments of specialists
- Increasing salaries substantially
- Attractive career progression
- Proactively identify unemployed nurses and retrain them for work
- Decide seats in private sector based on market availability and demand
The measures so taken lead to immediate recruitment of 550 doctors, 110 specialists, and 220 laboratory technicians, posting of 500 Community health officers (CHO) and recruitment of an additional 600 CHO. The additional improvements are still continuing in the state of Chhattisgarh.
