Covid Effect: Phlebotomists, who draw blood, are suddenly in high demand

New Delhi: Demand for phlebotomists – those who draw blood and collect samples – has shot up by 20-40 per cent as more and more prefer home collection of samples in lieu of a visit to a pathology laboratory in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. An estimated 20,000 jobs are expected to be created in the next year, industry players said.Diagnostic companies such as Metropolis Healthcare, Healthians and SRL Diagnostics and hospital chains such as Apollo and Max Healthcare have also stepped up hiring due to increased demand. Some of them have also started giving out allowances per visit to attract talent, while others are doling out increments.Alok Kumar, senior director of sales, account management and global accounts at ManpowerGroup India, said that demand for phlebotomists had gone up by 30-40 per cent compared to pre-pandemic level. In fact, the company started a new vertical to cater to the demand, said Kumar. He said he expects the demand to continue in the coming few quarters as well."There are less people venturing out. People are doing more preventive checks to rule out infection rather than reactive checks nowadays," he said.To become a phlebotomist, a person has to complete a two-year diploma in medical laboratory technology (DMLT).According to estimates from staffing company Teamlease Services, the demand is expected to rise at around 10 per cent, adding around 20,000 jobs in the next year. According to Sumit Kumar, vice-president (National Employability Through Apprenticeship Program), Teamlease, around 2-2.5 lakh phlebotomists are employed across the country in an estimated 60,000 labs, and the segment witnessed at least 20 per cent annualised growth in the last six months. This has led to an estimated 20,000-25,000 jobs in the last six months too. He said more companies are now keen on hiring entry-level staff as apprentices, training them and then retaining some. This is because lateral hiring is expensive while apprentices can be paid less, even though they have to be trained for a few months before they can be absorbed.What’s more, home collection is also adding a new “layer” of jobs for last-mile delivery agents who ferry samples to the lab, according to ManpowerGroup's Alok Kumar. While numbers in this area are low, the demand growth has been as much as 50-60 per cent due to the low base.Deepak Sahni, founder of Healthians, said he had stepped up hiring of phlebotomists. The company hired around 250 people since March, with 100 of them being phlebotomists and plans to on-board another 350 in the next two quarters. The company has 850 employees at present, and is aggressively launching in new markets. Metropolis Healthcare is handing out yearly increments as well as additional bonuses to frontline staff, said Ishita Medhekar, chief human resource officer. The company has 4400 employees and will continue to hire technical staff, especially to keep up with demand for Covid tests.Anand K, CEO of SRL Diagnostics, said his firm stepped up hiring of phlebotomists as it added several new Covid-19 testing facilities and demand for home collection had risen. Anand said that they had ramped up hiring to have backup manpower, as some health workers fell sick despite safety precautions.Umesh Gupta, chief people officer at Max Healthcare, said that demand for home sample collection had gone up 20-25 per cent since the pandemic started. SV Kiran, HR head of Apollo hospitals said the chain added 10 per cent more phlebotomists since last year.Untitled Carousel 78978422 79038169 79009796

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