Over 250,000 health workers needed

INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
KATHMANDU, JULY 4The Medical Education Commission has estimated that more than 250,000 human resources related to the
health sector would be necessary till fiscal year 2030-31
MEC made this projection on the basis of a study based on fiscal year 2020-21.
More than 72,000 tourists visited Nepal in
June
France arrests more than 1,300 people after fourth night of rioting
over teen's killing by police A total of 358,938
human resources related to health, including female health volunteers and office assistants in government and private health institutions
within that period would be needed, shared the Commission
Of them, 257,091 would be doctors and health workers.Vice-Chairperson of the Commission, Prof Dr Sri Krishna Giri, mentioned that such
number of human resources in the health sector was estimated on the basis of human resource that would retire and go abroad during the
period as well as basic health institutions the government has been constructing. As per the World Health Organisation, it
is considered good to have minimum 4.45 health workers per 1,000 population.A total of 234,361 human resources were needed in health
institutions in fiscal year 2020- 21, only 178,309 human resources were working during the period.The Commission projected that 16,784 MBBS
doctors, 15,435 specialist consultant (MD) and 411 nursing professionals are needed till 2031.Similarly, 3,359 Nursing Assistants (Bachelor
level), 88,024 Nursing and Obstetrics Assistants (Certificate level), 2,083 Traditional and Alternative Medicine professionals (Bachelor's
and Master's level), 2,118 Traditional and Assistant Physicians Technical (Certificate level) will be required.Likewise, 2,688 human
resources related to other health professions (Master's level), 23,150 human resources (Bachelor's level) in the other health related
auxiliary professions and 104,039 human resources (Certificate level) in other health related auxiliary professions have to be produced by
that period.MEC stated that 57,043 Female Community Health Volunteers and office assistants, 44,800 cleaning staff and drivers would be
required
The Council said 245,463 medical workforce, 54,463 female health volunteers and 42,777 office assistants, sanitary staff and drivers will be
needed in 2026.According to the MEC report, 7,659 medical human resources in the Bachelor's level, 1,684 in the Master's level and 109 in
the higher than Master's level would be produced this year
Similarly, 12,102 health workers would be produced in 11 medium and basic level subjects including nursing, general medicine, dental
science, ayurvedic health science, physiotherapy, and pharmacy, among others.Ten thousand one hundred and 39 health facilities, including
7,889 government hospitals, basic hospitals, the government is constructing at local level and 2,250 hospitals in the private sector are in
operation throughout the country at present.A version of this article appears in the print on July 5, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://thehimalayantimes.com