Skill India to support Health Min, train 14 lakh candidates by 2025

New Delhi, June 27: Skill India will support ‘Skill for Life, Save a Life’ initiative of the Health and Family Welfare Ministry and train 14 lakh candidates by 2025.
Reiterating the strength and success of government’s One India Team and showcasing seamless convergence and cross organisational collaboration, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), jointly with the Ministries of Health and Human Resource Development (HRD), signed an MoU with the Indira Gandhi Open University (IGNOU), to make youth more employable in the healthcare sector and find opportunities of employment, with ease.
The Health Ministry had identified various critical thematic areas for training and standardised course curriculum for 10 short term courses pertaining to health sector, which were formally released under the ‘Skill for Life, Save a Life’ initiative, jointly with the MSDE.
The combined objective under this MoU is to scale up the health programmes, create trained personnel in
healthcare sector, specially in the preventive and tertiary care segment; and set up a dedicated cell for developing, implementing and certifying the skill-based programmes at IGNOU.
‘Skill development in India is moving with great speed and scale and this has only been possible with the support of our partner ministries. This is yet another milestone collaboration that we are witnessing today.
‘It is a matter of great pride for us to enable this level of convergence and coordination, which will be able to translate partnerships into meaningful public good and opportunities for all,’ said MSDE Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday.
The vision of Prime Minister of Ayushman Bharat will only be possible through the creation of a large qualified, skilled and competent healthcare workforce, he added.
‘These courses are mostly in preventive and tertiary care sector and need a lot of practical training, along with individual compassion. Our courses under Skill India will ensure that our programmes have a defined curriculum, which will yield maximum quality benefit to candidates training in them. All the courses under this initiative will be aligned to the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF),’ he stated.
Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar said these were very specialised courses, which need special focus on quality training of the professionals.
‘With the increase in the average number of years a person is expected to live and increasing lifestyle diseases, our country needs more of such professionals, who can take care of the aged and the needy. This is not only an opportunity for the youth to explore opportunities of employment, but is a great service to the mankind,’ he said.
Addressing the gathering after the MoU signing ceremony, Health and Family Welfare Minister JP Nadda said, ‘Skill development will form the future roadmap for our nation’s growth and well-being.
‘We have begun our pilot with 10 courses and we are certain that we will very soon align with the remaining job roles as well to the National Skill Qualification Framework under Skill India. We have a heavy focus on wellness, along with healthcare,’ he added.
A robust monitoring and assessment framework will be established under the MoU, to ensure that the Health Ministry standards are followed stringently and financial assistance is provided to IGNOU for establishing the structure and initiating the programmes.
These courses, available at a nominal fee of Rs 5,000 only, include the General Duty Assistant, Geriatric Care Assistant, Phlebotomist, Home Health Aide, Diabetes Educator, Dietetic Aide and Sanitary Health Inspector.