The Health Ministry has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) to scale-up short-term healthcare courses and produce over 14 lakh trained manpower by 2025.

The signing ceremony of the MoU was presided over by Union Health Minister J P Nadda and Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar. Union Minister for Skill Development Dharmendra Pradhan was also present.

The government has initiated universal screening of common non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and common cancers along with tuberculosis and leprosy. This will require trained manpower and the Health Ministry is taking all necessary steps to address this.

A robust monitoring and assessment framework will be established under the MoU to ensure that Health Ministry standards are followed stringently. The ministry will provide for financial assistance to IGNOU for establishing the structure and initiating the programmes. The courses will be initiated in a phased manner across the country by IGNOU.