Backed by Mancosa's 27 years of experience in distance and online higher education, the School of Healthcare will serve to meet the ever-changing demands placed on South Africa’s fragile, yet resilient and complex health workforce.
“We must realise that the Covid-19 pandemic has reshaped the education and training needs of the overall healthcare workforce,” said Paresh Soni, director of Mancosa. “Upskilling, reskilling and continuous professional development is necessary across all healthcare functions. Mancosa intends to empower the healthcare workforces to remain attuned and responsive to the needs of future healthcare systems.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) predicts a global workforce shortage of approximately 18 million healthcare workers by 2030, with South African statistics being even more concerning. However, Soni states that the timing of this launch is critical because of the global major shifts experienced across healthcare, as highlighted by a recent report from Deloitte. “By 2040, healthcare, as we know it today, will no longer exist. There will be a fundamental shift from ‘healthcare’ to ‘health’. And while disease will never be completely eliminated, through science, data, and technology, we will be able to identify it earlier, intervene proactively, and better understand its progression to help consumers more effectively and actively sustain their well-being. The future will focus on wellness and management by companies that assume new roles to drive value in the transformed health ecosystem.”
These fundamental shifts in the global healthcare sector mean that the healthcare workforce will need to be upskilled and re-skilled in order to meet increasingly complex demands. Mancosa’s SOH will contribute to the development of a future-ready healthcare workforce initially through a range of futuristic short learning programmes covering a wide range of healthcare-related topics.
In addition, Soni says that Mancosa is currently in the process of rolling out healthcare-related formal learning programmes such as the Higher Certificate in Healthcare Management.
The initial suite of short learning programmes will draw on Mancosa's higher education expertise, providing a combination of innovative, tech-driven and simulated programmes to deliver practical training required for healthcare workers. “We believe that our programmes will assist healthcare workers to hone their clinical and patient skills in preparing them to positively contribute to South Africa’s healthcare goals,” said Soni.
The five courses currently offered through the Mancosa SOH skillME platform include Psychiatric Patient Care, Infection Control in Healthcare Facilities, Public Healthcare: Health Promotion, Good Clinical Practice, and Ethics for Healthcare Professionals.
Visit skillme.mancosa.co.za for more information.
