Future of work

Vikas Gangwani, Senior Vice President – Corporate HR , Human Resources, Max Healthcare speaks about the hiring trends in healthcare

Healthcare as an industry in India has evolved greatly in the last 25 years, moving from being informal, unorganised and small-scale sector to privatisation leading to establishment of larger institutions, which successfully moved nimbly to carve out new territories much beyond primary and secondary care and focussed to deliver world class tertiary and quaternary care. The new healthcare reforms, regulatory changes and medical technology disruption have all resulted in completely redefining roles within the healthcare organisations. In order to keep up the volume, velocity and variety of the changing business dynamics, the jobs are continuously evolving with greater emphasis on skill enhancement, analytically driven and performance based and multi-dimensional.

Transformation in job roles

The sector is undergoing massive transformation, one of the emerging trend within healthcare is the advent of new business models such as telemedicine – including tele-radiology, remote surgery, provision of healthcare services at home including post-surgery care, medical testing at home which means the industry needs new skills and be ready for new models of working. Rise in medical tourism in India with increasing medical expenses around the world, health care sector in India would be a great provider of new jobs particularly at the level of frontline health workers, allied health professionals and other healthcare workers such as mental health counsellors, elderly care-providers, nurse practitioners and so on. We expect to see a continued surge in super specialities under oncology cardiology, endocrinology, neurology, transplants, etc. along with people inclining towards Alternative Medical Therapy. Digital competencies will be the foundation upon which the job skills of the future are based. However, technological know-how will not be enough to compete effectively since future jobs will involve knowledge creation and innovation – to explore experiment and find interesting solutions to complex problems that business keeps tossing at you. Greater focus will also be on a variety of “human/ soft skills,” which will help workers embrace the rapid onset of change, allowing them to think creatively and collaboratively and learn to getting in touch with one’s emotions, having empathy and listening.

Some roles of the future in the Healthcare Industry:

• 3D Printing Technologists
• Therapists / Therapy Assistants – both for physical and mental wellbeing
• Genetics testers
• Healthcare at home assistants for critical illness, post-surgery recovery, senior citizen healthcare
• Robotic assistance
• Medical tourism marketing
• Analytics roles
• Remote surgery doctors

Moreover, greater emphasis on roles for both personal care aides and home health aides as well will be seen as the future of jobs in healthcare.

Need for training and skill development

Super specialised degrees under the traditional streams of medical sciences and courses under Biomedical Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Data Mining; advanced degrees in physical therapy, counsellors, home care providers and practitioners, etc., shall play a key role in the years to come.

Currently in India, there is dearth of quality talent in the sector and the gap is only going to widen there has been a shift in perception towards healthcare professionals in the past few decades. With the current academic scenario in the field of core medicine, nursing and paramedics, a huge chunk of students graduate without being ready for the industry. There needs to be a change in core functional skilling by academia backed by industry.

Continuous education backed by individuals and organisation aided by blended learning (on the job learning, social learning, self-paced learning mode) shall be of vital importance, more than ever before.