Centre launches standard curriculum for ten allied healthcare professions

Aims mandatory implementation of curriculum in allied healthcare institutes by 2026

The Union health ministry on Wednesday launched the new competency-based curriculums for ten allied and healthcare professions in collaboration with the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions (NCAHP).

 

The curriculum aims to produce globally competent allied and healthcare professionals to address the increasing prevalence of diseases, and the growing demand for allied services.

 

According to several reports, India currently has more than 1.3 million allied and healthcare personnel such as lab technicians, physiotherapists, and dieticians.

 

Commenting on the same, health secretary Punya Salila Srivastava said that the comprehensive revision and standardisation of the curriculum represents a pivotal step toward establishing consistency in educational content and delivery.

 

 

“These curricula are an important step to ensure uniformity and actualise the vision of One Nation, One Curriculum,” NCAHP chairperson Yagna Unmesh Shukla added.

 

The ten curriculums will cover professions such as physiotherapy, applied psychology and behavioural health, optometry, nutrition and dietetics, dialysis therapy, radiotherapy, medical radiology and imaging, anaesthesia, health information management, and physician associates.

 

Shukla added that the new curriculum will be mandatorily implemented from 2026, with other curriculums of professions scheduled under the NCAHP Act to be released at the earliest. Currently, there are 56 recognised categories under the Act.

 

Enacted by Parliament in 2021, the Act aims to provide for regulation and maintenance of standards of education and services by allied and healthcare professionals, assessment institutions, and maintenance of central and state registers.

 

This comes after the Supreme Court had previously directed the central and state governments to implement the NCAHP Act, 2021.

 

An official in the know added that the move stems from concerns over the mushrooming of unrecognised institutes providing courses in allied and healthcare aspects of medical treatment.

 

“The lack of regulation, in fact, has led to a proliferation of institutes offering diplomas and certificate courses without any standardised curriculum or teaching methods,” he added.