The central government’s public health insurance scheme, Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Mission (ABNHPM) would create more than 1,00,000 ‘long-term’ jobs in the next four years. 

“Based on our analysis, AB-NHPM is likely to directly create more than 1,00,000 long-term skilled and semiskilled jobs in the next three to four years,” said Chief Executive Officer Indu Bhushan.

The majority of these jobs are expected to come from the expansion of private hospitals. 

Under the scheme, nearly 25,000 hospitals will be empaneled to meet the demand of healthcare services. Indu Bhushan shared that if we assume that 300 new private hospitals will be opened due to demand created by AB-NHPM and each hospital will employ 200 persons, then directly 60,000 jobs in the hospitals will be created. 

Additionally, more than 80 lakh short-term ‘unskilled’ and ‘semi-skilled’ jobs will also be created during the roll-out of the mission. This will include the manpower required for the construction of additional hospitals and expansion of existing private hospitals. Secondly, the workforce will be required for the purpose of informing beneficiaries about AB-NHPM. Indu shared that approximately two lakh people are also expected to be hired on the ground for a short term by the government. 

ABNHPM has been introduced to provide Rs 5 lakh health cover to 100 million of India's poorest families. And for the implementation of this scheme people will be expected to be engaged in fields ranging from ‘implementation support’ at central and state levels to claim management support at the trust and insurance agencies in states implementing the scheme, making these some areas where jobs will be created. 

However, the success of the scheme does depend on the availability of medical specialists and support staff. Last year, it was reported that there are only 7 doctors, 17 nurses/midwives, 1 dentist and 5 pharmaceutical personnel available for every 10,000 patients. Thus highlighting a huge alarming gap between demand and supply of skilled medical specialists. While the central government is creating jobs and aiming to impact lives with initiatives like AB-NHPM, a strong focus on promoting skill development is also crucial.

According to a study, India would need to have a ‘registered stock’ of 2.07 million doctors to achieve a doctor-population ratio of 1:1,000 by 2030. This means a 151% growth of registered doctors in the country between 2010 and 2030.