The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the global shortage of healthcare workers.
Countries at all stages of development faced shortages even before the pandemic struck which led to the creation of the WHO Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health: Workforce 2030 in 2016. This initiative led to a 29% increase in the health workforce by 2020.
But COVID-19 reversed the situation stretching the workforce to its limits. The global medical recruitment and retention crisis can now be attributed to burnout, mental health, well-being, and workplace violence, in addition to the persistent risk of infection and death.
India has a high share of incidents of workplace violence. Despite stringent measures taken to protect healthcare workers, there seems to be no improvement in their situation.
The consequences of violence against healthcare workers are worrisome. Deaths or life-threatening injuries, reduced work interest, job dissatisfaction, impaired functioning, more leave days, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, the decline of ethical values, increased practice of defensive medicine, and lower patient safety.
These are some reasons why doctors in India are considering other professions or are looking to pursue medical specialties in other countries.
The world is estimated to face a shortfall of 10 million healthcare workers by 2030, primarily the low- and middle-income countries. The search for improved working conditions and career opportunities is taking many doctors to high-income countries.
But even in high-income countries, they continue to face problems like antisocial shift patterns and high levels of stress. Added to this are slow and bureaucratic systems and workflows, increasing boredom due to less autonomy and a limited sense of community through working daily in unfamiliar environments with unfamiliar colleagues and having no dedicated workspace.
The World Economic Forum in collaboration with L.E.K. Consulting has produced the Global Health and Healthcare Strategic Outlook. The Strategic Outlook explores eight levers public and private stakeholders can deploy to address issues in health and healthcare, some of which can help address the shortages of healthcare workers.
For example, India should develop improved policies to protect healthcare workers from violence, using recent WHO guidelines. Public-private partnerships and cross-industry collaboration can be better utilized to incentivize young aspiring doctors to view medicine as a viable, long-term career path and, for those that do make the choice, reward them adequately to stay, not only in the profession but also in the country.
Across all countries, digitalization and decentralization levers can be used together to advance alternative care models (e.g., telecare and homecare). This will help reduce pressure on acute care settings and free up healthcare workers' time to improve care delivery and job satisfaction. Although there is no one-size-fits-all solution and the effects may not be felt overnight, immediate and extreme steps are required to address this global medical recruitment and retention crisis.