Healthcare needs a compassionate reset

Healthcare workers are widely celebrated as heroes, yet exhaustion and burnout remain critical challenges. Industry leaders increasingly recognize that protecting caregivers’ wellbeing is essential for staff morale and high-quality patient care. India’s healthcare system has long relied on self-sacrifice, but this expectation is no longer sustainable in a post-pandemic world. A 2023 World Health Organization report identifies burnout as a major global risk, warning that fatigued professionals cannot deliver optimal care.

Dileep Mangsuli, Chairman, CTSI South Asia, highlights the importance of institutional support. “A structured leave framework acknowledges the varied challenges inherent in healthcare while fostering a balanced and supportive workplace,” he says.

Healthcare differs fundamentally from corporate environments, as fatigue in hospitals can have serious, even life-threatening consequences. Caregivers routinely manage pain, grief, and critical decisions, making mental rest a clinical necessity. Experts stress that hospital HR policies must embed empathy, yet rigid leave structures often hinder recovery. Policies that count weekends and holidays as leave discourage meaningful breaks. Progressive systems should eliminate such barriers and allow flexible merging of leave types so staff can rest, handle emergencies, and build resilience.

A culture that glorifies accumulated leave is equally harmful. High leave balances often signal burnout rather than prudence. Encouraging regular time off, and even capping leave accumulation, helps sustain focus, reduce fatigue-related errors, and protect patient safety.

“Humanizing the workforce is equally vital,” says Mounika Madaram.  Healthcare workers are parents, partners, and caregivers themselves. “Policies such as paternity leave and compassionate bereavement leave support emotional recovery and reinforce empathy at the core of patient care,” says CHRO (Chief Human Resources officer), Human capital strategist, at Cancer Treatment Services International (CTSI), a Siemens Healthineers Company.

The sector must move beyond the outdated belief that resilience equals endurance. True resilience lies in recovery. By embedding supportive policies, hospitals protect both employee wellbeing and patient outcomes. As Rahul Kulkarni, CHRO, CTSI South Asia, notes, “Rest is not a reward; it is a responsibility.” CTSI’s healthcare network demonstrates how patient-first care and employee wellbeing together create a sustainable healthcare ecosystem.