As the demand for health-care professionals is likely to rise within the country and abroad in the post-COVID-19 period, the State is gearing up to becoming a major provider of health-care professionals.
Foreign employers have started knocking at the doors of NoRKA ROOTS, the licensed agency for “safe and ethical” migration functioning under Department of Non-Resident Keralite Affairs, in search of health-care professionals.
The demand for health-care professionals in West Asia and the trust employers place on them were evident when flights were chartered to take them back from Kerala during the lockdown. The NoRKA ROOTS has begun ‘express recruitment’ of nurses for the Health Ministry of Saudi Arabia even as several countries have started registering a slump in COVID-19 cases and the borders are being opened up.
The demand for health-care professionals abroad is in addition to the increasing demand within the State.
“In addition to the demand for doctors and nurses, the post-COVID-19 period is to see recruitment of pharmacists, laboratory technicians, and physiotherapists in large numbers from the State. NoRKA is in touch with foreign employers to cash in on the opportunity,” says the Harikrishnan Namboorthiri K., Chief Executive Officer, Norka ROOTS.
Lessons learnt from the pandemic has already forced many countries to invest more in the public health sector. “Health ecosystem is going to denote economic growth,” the Norka CEO says.
Crisis as opportunity
Health-care professionals in the State can make use of the crisis as an opportunity. Hospitals with 25 beds to 2,500 are coming up and this will turn permanent even after the pandemic crisis. Countries will need a pool of health-care professionals.
The NoRKA ROOTS is of the view that the State, with its vast pool of health-care professionals, can tap the emerging opportunities. The State is also eyeing on the opportunities related to health care, including wellness tourism.
