Health & Biotech

Johnson & Johnson MedTech India is joining hands with Mumbai-based startup Karkinos Healthcare to pursue opportunities in upskilling healthcare professionals in cancer care.

Access to specialised care of oncologists is significantly constrained in India. The country has a shortfall of over 3000 medical oncologists and 800 surgical oncologists. To bridge the gap, Johnson & Johnson has been investing in upskilling surgeons through its physical and mobile institutes, and tie-ups with Centers of Excellence.

The Johnson & Johnson Institute currently offers more than 225 online assets in 25 curriculums, covering 11 surgical specialties.

The new partnership aims to combine the digital learning methodology with Karkinos’ expertise of enabling hospitals in setting up comprehensive cancer care systems. Together, both the organisations will develop futuristic programmes and infrastructure for the skill upgradation of healthcare professionals in a variety of capacities and capabilities needed for comprehensive cancer treatment.

Sandeep Makkar, Managing Director, Johnson & Johnson MedTech India said, “India has the third largest burden of cancer globally. The lack of advanced laboratories, scanning & radiotherapy centres and onco-specialists in remote regions add to the suffering of patients, who travel to bigger cities for treatment. This leads to added expenditure & breaks, along with delays & discontinuation of follow-up treatment, resulting in higher fatalities. Through our collaboration with Karkinos, we aim to upskill healthcare professionals in Tier 2-3 cities in advanced methods of cancer diagnosis and treatment.”

Dr R Venkataramanan, Founder and CEO, Karkinos Healthcare said, “Oncology is a domain where significant information and knowledge asymmetries persist despite best efforts, resulting in poor patient outcomes. There is a significant need to upskill and reskill professionals across the care continuum in order to take cancer care to the community.”

According to a recent report released by Catenon India, which is a global executive search company specialising in talent intelligence and recruitment, the most in-demand skills in healthcare include Marketing (33%) and Engineering (30%), followed by Blue Collar, IT, HR and sales, as of December 2022.

The report has also revealed that Bengaluru has the highest hiring percentage i.e. 52% in the healthcare sector, followed by New Delhi at 39%, and Mumbai at 31%, with Chennai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad up close.

Further, the report states that some of the key hard skills required by the healthcare industry are Data entry, pharmacy, record management, business administration, Health Insurance Portability Act knowledge and CPR + First Aid.

In addition, the healthcare industry provides multiple employee benefits such as Life insurance, Soft skills training, Job training, Disability insurance, Paid holiday, Health insurance, to name a few.

While increase in ageing population will lead to the healthcare industry growth in the coming years, it is the rise of telemedicine that will lead to healthcare market expansion with maximum hiring in the healthcare sector taking place at Tier 1 cities currently.

Amazon Web Services (AWS), an Amazon.com company, released new research that shows workers in India who use advanced digital skills – including cloud architecture or software development – contribute an estimated US$507.9 billion (₹10.9 trillion) to India’s annual gross domestic product (GDP). This is attributed to the 92% higher salaries that these workers earn compared to those with a similar education who do not use digital skills at work.

The “Asia Pacific Digital Skills Study: The Economic Benefits of a Tech-Savvy Workforce,” commissioned by AWS and conducted by Gallup, examined how building a technology-enabled workforce has significant benefits for workers, organizations, and the economy. More than 2,000 (2,005) working adults and 769 employers were surveyed in India across a variety of public and private sector organizations and industries. The study classifies basic digital skills as the ability to use email, word processors, other office productivity software, and social media. Intermediate digital skills include drag-and-drop website design, troubleshooting applications, and data analysis. Advanced digital skills include cloud architecture or maintenance, software or application development, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning.

The study found that advanced digital workers in India are benefitting from more than just a boost in their income. 91% of workers who use advanced digital skills express higher job satisfaction, compared to 74% of workers with intermediate skills and 70% of workers with basic digital skills.

Similarly, employers that rely heavily on advanced digitally-skilled workers, digital technology, and cloud technology reap higher business growth and innovation. The study found that 21% of Indian organizations that run most of their business on the cloud report a doubling of annual revenue or more, compared to 9% of those that use the cloud for some or none of their business. Cloud-based organizations are also 15 percentage points more likely to have introduced a new or improved product within the last two years (95% vs 80%).

With many organizations now preparing for the challenges of a digital future, the Gallup study looked at 10 emerging technologies including AI, edge and quantum computing, blockchain, and cryptocurrency. 92% of employers in India say at least one of these technologies is likely to become a standard part of their future business operations, with 5G ranking the highest at 78%.

“People in India are increasingly going digital, from the way they work to the way they live. This research shows that digital skills provide immense economic value to India at the individual, organizational, and macroeconomic level,” said Gallup Principal Economist, Dr. Jonathan Rothwell. “As more organizations move their IT to the cloud over the next decade and new technologies emerge, digitization is going to fuel a vast number of new jobs. The opportunity for India to be competitive in the digital economy depends on having a robust and highly skilled workforce to support current and future innovations.”

New Delhi-based Jamia Hamdard University has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Dalhousie University, Canada, to promote academic and research cooperation between the two universities.

Dalhousie VP Global, Matt Hebb, and Jamia Hamdard University Vice-Chancellor Afshar Alam have signed the MoU by kicking off a partnership that will focus first on collaborations in nursing.

The MoU seeks to establish a collaborative research and degree programme for the nursing students of School of Nursing and Allied Health, Jamia Hamdard.

“The coming together of these two institutes of international repute will further increase the quality of research, education and opportunities for students and help them become global citizens,” said Hebb.