The government on Tuesday said that there are 13,86,150 registered allopathic doctors and 7,51,768 registered practitioners in the AYUSH system of medicine, contributing to an estimated doctor-population ratio of 1:811.
To date, there are a total of 74,306 postgraduate seats and 1,18,190 MBBS seats in the country, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Anupriya Patel, told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.
“Assuming that 80 percent of registered practitioners in both the allopathic and AYUSH systems are available, the doctor-population ratio in the country is estimated to be 1:811,” the minister said.
Among the measures taken by the government to increase the number of doctors and medical professionals in the country include the centrally sponsored scheme for the establishment of new medical colleges by upgrading district/referral hospitals, under which 131 new medical colleges are already functional out of 157 approved medical colleges.
“Under the ‘Upgradation of Government Medical Colleges by Construction of Super Specialty Blocks’ scheme of the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY), a total of 75 projects have been approved, of which 71 projects are complete,” the minister said.
Under the Central Sector Scheme for the setting up of new AIIMS, 22 AIIMS have been approved, and undergraduate courses have started in 19 of these institutions.
“The Family Adoption Programme has been incorporated into the MBBS curriculum to provide equitable healthcare access to the rural population, and under the District Residency Programme of the National Medical Commission (NMC), second- and third-year postgraduate students of medical colleges are posted in district hospitals,” the minister said.
Non-monetary incentives such as preferential admission to postgraduate courses for staff serving in difficult areas and improved accommodation arrangements in rural areas have also been introduced under the National Health Mission (NHM). Additionally, multi-skilling of doctors is supported under the NHM to address the shortage of specialists, she mentioned.
Skill upgradation of existing human resources is another major strategy under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) for achieving improvements in health outcomes, she added.
IANS
