Healthcare workers are in high demand, however, it’s not easy to fill those roles. To identify the hardest-to-fill healthcare roles, job portal Indeed has compiled a list based on the percentage of jobs unfilled after two months (Job postings can be open for longer than 60 days for different reasons; in this case Indeed uses this measure as a proxy for hiring difficulty.) It turns out that many of the hardest-to-fill healthcare roles are quite advanced, with the majority being doctor roles. And of all the roles, nursing roles appear thrice on the list - Nurse to doctor ratio in India is estimated to be 1.7:1 based on recent NSSO data. Hospitals are also looking for coding specialists and medical writers. 

While nurses jobs are hard to fill, they are also the most-posted - job postings for ‘registered nurses’ saw an increase of 13 per cent in August 2021 as compared to August 2020 on Indeed. Along with nurses, job postings for physicians (7 per cent), laboratory technicians (6 per cent), pharmacists (5 per cent) and nurses (4 per cent) also showed a steady increase. 

A city-wise analysis of the hiring activity in the sector revealed that Bengaluru followed by Chennai (7 per cent), Mumbai (5 per cent), Hyderabad (4 per cent), and Pune (3 per cent).

The trend reflected in Indeed’s data as job seeker interest (clicks) for roles such as registered nurse (13 per cent), the laboratory technician (9 per cent), pharmacist (7 per cent), back-office medical assistant (6 per cent), and physician (5 per cent) witnessed growth in August 2021 as compared to August 2020.

Sashi Kumar, Head of Sales, Indeed says “As the government continues to give impetus to the healthcare sector, there is bound to be a growing demand for healthcare job roles. The government is focussed on skilled manpower associated with the healthcare sector. We hope this will positively impact the efficiency of health services in the country. The better healthcare employers can fill those roles, the healthier we will all be.”