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Abstract Introduction At 1.3 billion, India comprises not just 17.8% of the global population but contributes almost 25% of global working population due to its young demographics. Methods and Materials Following the infamous Bhopal gas disaster, the Ministry of Labor and Employment introduced the Associate Fellow in Industrial Health (AFIH) course at the Central Labor Institute, Mumbai, in 1995. This skills-based certificate course of three months duration, offered annually, was made a mandatory qualification for doctors to work as physicians in the hazardous industry. Results Once limited to only 50 participants annually, since the last 15 years, the course has expanded and is now run by 17 institutions training about 600 doctors per year. About 4,400 doctors have been trained to date. Currently there is no other course for doctors in occupational health in the country. Moreover, there is no course to produce occupational health nurses either. Given the size of the country and expanding industries, the need for occupational health personnel is huge and at the current rate, may take many decades to produce enough manpower. In view of this, the Indian Association of Occupational Health, a non-governmental association of occupational health experts, undertook collaborative awareness and a sensitization initiative for primary care physicians in India by conducting in person training courses, satellite training courses, publishing a book on Basic Occupational Health Services, and producing training videos available on social media. Conclusion Due to its own set of constraints, integrating occupational health training with existing public healthcare services can be a challenging task. Thus, capacity building in occupational health is a huge challenge and needs concerted efforts.
Pingle et al. (Mon,) studied this question.