Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) on Tuesday signed an MoU with the IGNOU.
The three Central ministries and the IGNOU joined hands together to support ‘Skill for Life, Save a Life’ initiative of the Central government, and will train 14 lakh candidates in the healthcare sector by 2025 through the introduction of 10 short-term courses.
The MoU was signed in the presence of Union MoS, Ministry of Health Family Welfare, A K Choubey; Union Minister Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar; Union Minister of Health Family Welfare J P Nadda; Union Minister of Skill and Development Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan and Union MoS, Ministry of Health Family Welfare Anupriya Patel.
The 10 courses that are planned to be implemented under this MoU include General Duty Assistant, Geriatric Care Assistant, Phlebotomist, Home Health Aide, Diabetes Educator, Dietetic Aide, EMT-Basic, Dispensing Optician/VT, Medical Equipment Technology Assistant, and Sanitary Health Inspector. These courses will be available to the candidates at a nominal fee of INR 5000 only.
With a clear focus on practical training and quality outcome, the MSDE will support the partnership with the IGNOU to scale up the short-term healthcare courses through its available robust platform.
“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”, Dharmendra Pradhan said.
He said that it is a matter of great pride for him and all to enable this level of convergence and coordination which will be able to translate partnerships into meaningful public good and opportunities for all.
“The vision of our Prime Minister of Ayushman Bharat will only be possible through the creation of a large qualified, skilled and competent healthcare workforce”, he said.
The minister said that these courses are mostly in the 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 programs have a defined curriculum which will yield maximum quality benefit to candidates training in them. All the courses under this initiative are aligned to National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF)”, he further added.
Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said that these are very specialized courses which need a 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,” he said, adding, “This is not only an opportunity for the youth to explore opportunities for employment in but is a great service to mankind.”
Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare J P Nadda thanked the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and the Ministry of Human Resource and Development for partnering with his ministry on this initiative.
“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”, the minister stated.
