Institute of Health Management Research (IHMR) has estimated a current requirement of around 1,500 hospital management professionals for Karnataka’s 600 private medical centres. It has observed that these medical centres are finding it difficult to manage the operations following the non-availability of qualified professionals.
The 600 private medical centres include hospitals and nursing homes across the 30 districts in the state. This scarcity of quality health care professionals will increase in the coming years as existing hospitals modernize, expand and many more new ones of global standards would be set up. We foresee that over 10,000 hospital management professionals will be needed by 2020 to meet this growing gap, said Dr. Biranchi N. Jena, director of IIHMR, Bengaluru at a press conclave.
The health care sector’s revenues in Karnataka are projected to shoot up to US$ 30 billion by 2020 from the current US$ 5 billion and the biggest contributor to this growth will be hospitals from Bengaluru. For better and effective management of global standard hospitals and health care facilities, Karnataka will witness a spurt in the demand for hospital management professionals according to the healthcare management & research institute.
In specialty healthcare, Karnataka's private sector competes with the best in the world. The state has also established a modicum of public health services having a better record of healthcare and childcare than most other states in the country. It is also a leading medical hub where international patients come over to access quality care from experts. But, the paucity of hospital management professionals could mar the growth of the sector. Currently, at the 600 private medical centres, much of the management by the ownership teams within each facility, he added.
The Indian private healthcare industry is expected to grow from around US$ 40 billion currently to $280 billion by 2020. Overall, there is a huge shortage, running into a few lakhs of healthcare staff across all levels in all states of India in the public and private space.
“In the case of Bengaluru which despite being the India’s IT hub, the hospitals in the city are not maximizing use of technology optimally to facilitate better patients care. The facilities have not invested in candidates armed with soft skills. There is also a haphazard growth of medical institutions in the city but and expanding the health connectivity is the need of the hour. There is also a need to package the health services and market it globally in the right way. Thus, a lot more is needed to improve hospital services through effective management of healthcare services. The first step in this direction is to access the required hospital management candidates, ” said Dr. Jena.