Recorded presentation

Dileep Mavalankar, MD, DrPH¹, Sunil K Maheshwari, BTech, FPM², and Manjunath B Shankar, MBBS, MHA¹. (1) Public Systems Group, Indian Institute of Management, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad, 380015, India, (2) Personnel and Industrial Relations, Indian Institute of Management, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad, India, +91-79-26324806, sunilm@iimahd.ernet.in

The purpose of this presentation is to show that addressing human resource issues is crucial for the effective delivery of Emergency Obstetric Care (EmOC) in rural parts of India. Maternal mortality ratio is very high in India about 500 per 100,000 live births. India contributes to about 20% of global maternal deaths. In the past Safe Motherhood programees have not been effective because they did not focus on EmOC. The recent efforts to make EmOC functional are frustrated by inadequate attention to HR issues. Health services are highly dependent on the human resources-its availability, quality, commitment and performance. EmOC services are even more dependent on highly skilled human resources as it involves complex emergency procedures. We analyzed the HR situation for EmOC in India. We propose a framework to conceptualize various HR issues. Our analysis found that the major HR issues affecting delivery of EmOC in rural parts of India are (1) Availability of personnel in all cadres (2) Adequacy of technical and behavioral skills in effective delivery of EmOC (3) Commitment, accountability, creativity and performance of staff. The analysis showed that adoption of good HR practices like redistribution of roles and responsibilities, monetary and non monetary rewards, well thought out recruitment and transfer policies might mitigate some of the problems affecting implementation of EmOC services. The presentation will make recommendations on how governments, international agencies and other stakeholders can help improve HR situation for EmOC services.

Learning Objectives:

• By the end of the presentation, participants will be able to
• 1.Identify the human resource issues affecting delivery of effective EmOC in rural India
• 2.Discuss the Framework to address these issues in the socio-cultural context of the country.
• 3.Identify solutions to common HR problems affecting EmOC services in developing countries.

Keywords: Maternal Health, Developing Countries

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation