Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), Faidkot, will soon roll out India’s first-of-its-kind diploma programme in “caregiving and midwifery” as a pilot project of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to meet the demand of trained domain professionals in Britain. In an ambitious government-to-government tie-up programme, 1,500 diploma seats will be raised and the BFUHS will be the nodal authority for admissions in Punjab.
Besides lessons in health and safety regulation of the UK health and care sector, students will be imparted practical knowledge in cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR, nutrition, first aid and palliative care, etc to those who need support in their advancing age and under treatment for various ailments.
Experts said the patient and elderly care sector in Britain is classified as different from nursing as the former does not involve any medical intervention. Sandeep Kaura, adviser to NSDC, a Central government body, said on Sunday that the course will be started from the current academic session and the BFUHS will hold admission tests and allocate seats to different colleges, including Bathinda-based All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
Students who passed Class 12 in any stream with English proficiency will be eligible for the one-year (1,200-hour) diploma. Kaura said the NSDC signed an agreement with Care England, a body of employers for independent providers of adult social care in England, in February this year.
“Qualifications and Assessments International (QAI), a UK-based care watchdog, was engaged in preparing the curriculum for Indian students to meet the required standards in Britain. After completion of the course, students will be provided jobs by the Care England in complete transparency,” he added.
Kaura said that after the success of the pilot project, the Punjab model will be introduced in 12 other medical universities across the country.
BFUHS registrar Dr Rakesh Gorea said details of the academic programme will be made public soon. Sources said the university board of directors has granted its approval to the programme and a notification will be issued soon.
NSDC authorities said scores of unskilled and semi-skilled Indian youth land in Britain every year through various means after paying huge money to unscrupulous agents. “This trend deprives a large number of youth from earning well and India loses resources. The initiative of offering skill development to aspirants to meet the job market requirement will potentially earn India foreign exchange. Similarly, the domestic market also has an emerging demand in the care sector that is mainly an unorganised sector,” added the adviser.
Head of the urology department at AIIMS and NSDC centre at the central institute, Dr Kawaljit Singh Kaura, who was also part of the curriculum designing programme, said the students will also be educated about panchakarma, yoga and the use of herbal in messaging as part of care of elderly and patients.