Study of health human resource migration in India

Abstract

Background
Human Resource for Health (HRH) migration is an emerging concern in the
development paradigm due to the critical importance to sustainability of
health system in India. Being the largest human resource supplier to the
world, it is important to analyze the consequences of the migration of HRH in
the delivery of healthcare services to the country’s population. The study
evidences limited to examine the size, distribution of the existing human
resources or trends or patterns in migration. The consequences of migration
have its implications to the healthcare delivery mechanism which needed to
be critically analyzed.
Review Methodology
The methodology adopted in the paper is descriptive design. The critical
review used to evaluate the existing evidence and to develop conceptual
framework. The process involved the setting of the inclusion and exclusion
criteria to select the articles. It included wide range of articles from the world
development reports to specific studies oriented on the HRH scenario of the
country. The search strategy comprised both form of studies qualitative and
quantitative. The study utilizes the official data set published as report form.
Main Findings
The data on the migration in context of India, not systematically updated in
the existing evidences. The availability of data on migration limits to few
reports i.e.(World Health Organization) WHO’s Joint Learning Initiatives and
studies which combines census data of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and
results in the number of foreign born health professionals.
1. A major proportion of the research studies reviewed describes the disparity in distribution of HRH
between rural-urban and public-private. Few researches focused towards the policy environment of
the source and destination country for the migration.
2. There is pool of literature explaining the factors of migration but it margins when to analyze the
significant implications to healthcare delivery mechanism and health outcomes for the source country.
GJMEDPH 2015; Vol. 4, issue 3
1
Assistant Professor, Department of
Social Work, (UGC Centre of Advanced
Study), Faculty of Social Sciences, Jamia
Millia Islamia (A Central University), New
Delhi and Visiting Research Professor,
School of Public Health, University of
Minnesota, USA
2
Assistanr Professor, Department of
Social Work, Aditi Mahavidyalaya,
University of Delhi and Doctoral Fellow,
Department of Social Work, (UGC Centre
of Advanced Study), Faculty of Social
Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia (A Central
University), New Delhi
*Corresponding Author:
Panneer Sigamani
Assistant Professor, Department of Social
Work, (UGC Centre of Advanced Study),
Faculty of Social Sciences, Jamia Millia
Islamia (A Central University), New Delhi
and Visiting Research Professor, School of
Public Health, University of Minnesota,
USA
sigamanip@jmi.ac.in
Conflict of Interest—none
Funding—none
2 www.gjmedph.org Vol. 4, No. 3 2015 ISSN#- 2277-9604
Reviews
Recommendations
The paper recommends with the strategic initiative requisition for the live data records to update the HRH
situation in the country. The imperative need of additional HRH training, retaining and recruiting is essential
for the health system. The country specific human resource policy is vital for the strengthening of the
healthcare services and regularizing of movement of health professional within and out of the country. The
study gives an insight on emerging concern towards the HRH movement and considers the consequences
rationally on the public health system of the country.
Conclusion
The research paper results into giving an idea to understand the present scenario of HRH in India. Though the
present HRH information system is generalized description of the number of health professionals registered
with the respective councils. It does not explain the exact quantification of the extent of the HRH migration,
even though it is common among the health professionals. It is important to establish relation among the
variables of migration and its consequence to the health system. The need for developing greater
understanding for the long term consequences of migration on the source country is essential factors to be
analyzed. The study limited to the secondary data analysis on HRH migration.