While India’s healthcare system continues to expand, the urgency now lies in building a confident and competent workforce. With nearly 3,000 nursing colleges and around two lakh students graduating each year, the gap between classroom learning and hospital readiness is impossible to ignore. Doctors may treat diseases, but nurses care for people, and without skilled nurses, a hospital is just a building. Addressing this pressing need, Hyderabad has taken a decisive step towards redefining healthcare training.
In a significant move to strengthen hospital workforce readiness, the country’s first stand-alone Co Skills Hub for hospital workforce training, AHPI SHiNE Labs, was launched on Tuesday. The facility, located at Punjagutta, is dedicated exclusively to upskilling nurses and allied health professionals through structured, hands-on, and outcome-driven training programs aligned with real hospital needs.
The initiative was launched by Ebekmed in collaboration with the Association of Healthcare Providers of India, India’s largest not-for-profit apex body representing private healthcare providers across the country. The centre was formally launched by Dr Girdhar Gyani, Director General of AHPI, who addressed the gathering virtually.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Gyani noted that Hyderabad alone has about 126 private hospitals with over 100 beds and nearly 12,000 hospital beds across facilities of all sizes. He emphasised that nursing is the backbone of healthcare and nursing care plays a vital role in patient safety, making structured skill development essential for quality outcomes.
Sharing insights from extensive research, G Sreekanthan, Managing Director of Ebekmed, said that studies including a skill hackathon involving 2,400 students revealed significant gaps in the knowledge levels of graduating nurses. He stressed that confidence and competence are critical, and with the scale of nursing graduates every year, upskilling has become the need of the hour to create a truly job-ready workforce. He added that Hyderabad, with 297 NABH-accredited hospitals, presents strong demand for such structured skilling initiatives, with plans to expand further within the city and into Tier II and Tier III cities.
Conceptualised as a shared professional training ecosystem, the platform supports hospitals with standardised frameworks and practical training without disrupting operations. The Hyderabad centre offers state-of-the-art simulation infrastructure, essential manikins, clinical equipment, digital pre learning modules, certification pathways, and outcome-based assessments, ensuring measurable workforce readiness.
The model will now be replicated across major Indian cities, creating a national network of Co-Skills Hubs to strengthen healthcare delivery at scale.
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