More than 45 percent population of India will be living in urban areas by 2030

This is not only required for the Rural population, but also the Urban population which comprises of over 31.2% of the total population in the country, which has in turn given rise to the Smart Cities Mission by the Government of India. 

In contribution to development of skills and capacities required for the Smart Cities Mission, The International Institute of Health Management Research (IIHMR) Delhi concluded a  5 day long Management Development Programme (MDP) on Urban Health  in June 2016

B S Singh, Associate Professor, IIHMR Delhi said, “The dynamics of our country have changed over the past decade. We have realized that the population is ever exploding and the boundaries between Rural and Urban have become extremely thin. The country will soon have over 45% of the population residing in Urban areas by 2030. The government has therefore realized that this calls for the need to develop Smart Cities. Also, to develop a smart city one needs to understand that care must be taken to realize the most pressing needs of any city and create opportunities to improve the life of people residing in these cities. Thus, the government will be spending over $15 billion in the next 5 years to remake around 100 cities as ‘Smart Cities’ in the country. This also calls for better public health delivery systems through more contributions through the GDP on the healthcare services.”

B S Singh added, “Till date the total contribution from the GPD for healthcare services is less than 1%. Under the health coverage, about 58% of the total healthcare expenditure is from the patient’s pocket, out of which 10% is for health services and Insurance only. According to the Economic Survey 2015- 2016, there are major challenges in the public healthcare delivery systems such as the coverage in maternal and child health along with the lack of skilled personnel. This calls for the need of developing capacities in the Urban health segment. IIHMR Delhi focuses of key areas of Research, Academia and Training. Under training, the IIHMR Delhi performs various Management Development Programmes to build and develop capacities especially in the healthcare segment. Understanding the rising need of the Urban Population and the development of the Smart Cities concept, IIHMR Delhi introduced the Management Development Programme on Urban Health to build capacities for the overall economic development thereby contributing to the Smart Cities Mission.”

Singh also concluded that the Government has been making increasing efforts to improve the Urban Scenario. According to Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) a total of Rs. 19,55,343.15 crore have been made through ongoing PPP investments in projects of  Solid Waste Management, Water Supply, Parking Lots and Spaces, Roads/Flyovers, Mass Rapid Transportation System, Other Urban Transport t develop the urban space. Also, programmes such as Employment Through Skills Trainings and Placement (EST&P) have been developed to provide skill training to the Urban Poor for market based jobs and self-employment. 

The government has also begun programmes such as Self Employment programmes (SEP) designed to focus on financial assistance to individuals/group of urban poor for setting up gainful self-employment ventures/micro-enterprises, suited to their skills, training, aptitude and local conditions. No minimum or maximum educational qualification is prescribed for the selection of beneficiaries. Other programmes under the National urban Livelihood Mission are, Schemes of shelters for Urban homeless, Support to urban street vendors etc.

IIHMR Delhi offers a two-year full-time Postgraduate Program with specialization in Hospital Management, Health Management and Health Care Information Technology Management with a total annual intake of 120 students. It is a flagship educational program which aims to develop trained professional managers with requisite skills in planning, implementation, operational management, diagnosing and problem solving, consultancy and entrepreneurship with a view to prepare them to manage hospitals and healthcare institutions in developing countries, both in the public and the private sectors, and to meet their rising demand.