The Doctor and Patient Ratio

The doctor-population ratio of 0.62:1000 as per current population which is estimated to be of around 1.33 billion," she said during Question Hour. The WHO prescribes a doctor population ratio of 1:1000. Which is less than 1 doctor per 1000 patients.

Reasons for the shortages

These shortages exist despite India having one of the largest medical education systems in the world, with more than 410 government and private medical schools having an annual intake of 50 000 students for MBBS courses. City-bred and educated doctors are not willing to serve in rural areas, many of which still lack electricity and roads. Indian medical education is geared to train doctors to work only in tertiary care and specialised hospitals, so these areas become the primary professional aspiration of health workers, points out Vikram Patel, professor of international mental health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK. “Working in the public health sector is often a demoralising experience for doctors because their professional lives are blighted by lack of professional development opportunities, accountability, and access to even basic medical resources necessary to perform an effective role”, he adds.

Chandrakant S Pandav, head of community medicine at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, feels that “undue focus on specialised care in medical undergraduate training is leading to the neglect of primary health care and family care components”, preventing young doctors from serving in rural areas.