To address the issue of growing shortage of trained healthcare professionals in the country, the Institute of Clinical Research (India) (ICRI) will soon be starting an integrated masters programme in health administration in India in collaboration with Cranfield University, UK.

This is the first initiative taken by any institute in India other than the Delhi based All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to cater to the needs of the healthcare sector by offering this course to the interested candidates right from the grassroots to the top managerial level. Through this unique initiative, ICRI aims to bridge the huge demand and supply gap that is unfortunately growing in the country due to lack of trained professional capable of handling the hospital management.

The institute plans to start this course from September this year in its Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru campuses, at fees ranging from Rs.30,000 to 2 lakh per annum as per the requisite course. Interestingly, with a view to gauge the response of this course in the industry, ICRI had launched a pilot batch in Bengaluru last year with 12 students who were immediately absorbed within the industry seeing their potential, by top hospitals like Apollo, Narayana Hrudrlaya and Columbia, etc.

According to Shiv Raman Dugal, director of ICRI, lack of good managerial practises in the hospitals is a huge issue prevalent in the country today affecting the credibility and reputation of the healthcare system of the country. To change this scenario, there is a need for understanding the importance of adopting the highest level of quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) measures in healthcare organisation to reduce the death rate while increasing the survival rate.

He further pointed out that in a fair turn of events, the new hospitals as well as the existing ones are rapidly undergoing a gradual makeover in India by becoming more corporate in their administrative set up to meet growing competitions and global requirements. In fact, as per the current trends, it is estimated that hospital management segment, having a huge potential for growth under the healthcare boom is projected to grow into a $280 billion market by 2020.

However, there is a lot talent crunch in the space of hospital management today, which is threatening to slow down the development plans of the hospitals that needs to be addressed appropriately. “Most importantly, more and more people are becoming aware about the importance of good governance which is totally absent in the hospitals in India today. Having a highly trained employee in the hospitals will not only further boost the morale of the patients and encourage the hospitals to deliver high standard of services but also will improve the overall performance of the healthcare system of country,” Dugal added.

In the view of the success of this programme, ICRI also plans to collaborate with hospitals in the future by offering them suitable training programmes for their employees in the management of health administration.

Apart from this, ICRI is also in the process of strengthening its focus on its pharmacovigilance (PV) and clinical data management (CDM) courses which is fast gaining a huge market demand in the country. Along with it, they are also planning to start special courses targeted to train the people who are already working within the clinical trial industry for updating them on the latest trends and requirements of the industry. This part time course planned for six to seven months will be available for the interested candidates even through online.