Karnataka, TN, Andhra & Maha have 46% of country's doctors
Chethan Kumar
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Bengaluru:
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India is struggling with a doctor-patient ratio of 1:1,681. This poor state of affairs is hindering healthcare services across the country. But even among the 9.5 lakh doctors, the distribution is so skewed that just four states -Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and undivided Andhra Pradesh -have nearly 46% of all doctors registered in the country.This leaves bigger states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and others with few doctors to share between them.
“The number of doctors in the country is just a portion of what's required to meet the minimum requirement and some states are not even in line with the national average,“ said Singhal, an associate professor (ENT) and head and neck surgeon at SMS Hospital, Jaipur.
According to the mini stry of health and family welfare, out of 9,59,198 doctors registered in the country , 4,36,910 (45.54%) are in the four aforementioned states .
Rajasthan, MP and Uttar Rajasthan, MP and Uttar Pradesh have a total of 1,31,554 doctors, making up for 13.7%, while only three of the seven northeastern states have doctors registered with them and add up to only 22,201. The rest are shared between all other states.
Experts say the situation is worse than what the ministry's statistics reveal.
“There's no doubt that there's an overall shortage and skewed distribution.The problem is that doctors register with the Indian Medical Council or in the respective states when they pass out from the courses and there's no real update.Many of these 9.5 lakh doctors may not even be in the country ,“ Dr Upendra Bhojani, assistant director, Institute of Public Health (IPH), said.
That the four states have the maximum number of doctors should come as no surprise though, as they are among the states with the highest number of medical colleges. Together, they ac count for 69% of all the colleges in the country or 290 colleges out of 422.
Karnataka, which has the highest number (50) of medical colleges in the country , has 1,01.273 doctors (third highest in the country), while Maharashtra, which has the second highest number of medical colleges (48) has the highest number of doctors at 1,53,513.
Tamil Nadu has 1,11,325 doctors and 46 medical colleges, while Andhra Pradesh has 70,799 doctors and 46 colleges. Also, as experts point out, these are also states with a considerable urban population and a good network of private hospitals.
“It's not just the private hospitals that make the difference. Many choose places considering the opportunity to run clinics which is more lucrative in urban areas. Also, they look out for other support infrastructure, like schools and so on, that is good for their families ,“ Bhojani said.
“The number of doctors in the country is just a portion of what's required to meet the minimum requirement and some states are not even in line with the national average,“ said Singhal, an associate professor (ENT) and head and neck surgeon at SMS Hospital, Jaipur.
According to the mini stry of health and family welfare, out of 9,59,198 doctors registered in the country , 4,36,910 (45.54%) are in the four aforementioned states .
Rajasthan, MP and Uttar Rajasthan, MP and Uttar Pradesh have a total of 1,31,554 doctors, making up for 13.7%, while only three of the seven northeastern states have doctors registered with them and add up to only 22,201. The rest are shared between all other states.
Experts say the situation is worse than what the ministry's statistics reveal.
“There's no doubt that there's an overall shortage and skewed distribution.The problem is that doctors register with the Indian Medical Council or in the respective states when they pass out from the courses and there's no real update.Many of these 9.5 lakh doctors may not even be in the country ,“ Dr Upendra Bhojani, assistant director, Institute of Public Health (IPH), said.
That the four states have the maximum number of doctors should come as no surprise though, as they are among the states with the highest number of medical colleges. Together, they ac count for 69% of all the colleges in the country or 290 colleges out of 422.
Karnataka, which has the highest number (50) of medical colleges in the country , has 1,01.273 doctors (third highest in the country), while Maharashtra, which has the second highest number of medical colleges (48) has the highest number of doctors at 1,53,513.
Tamil Nadu has 1,11,325 doctors and 46 medical colleges, while Andhra Pradesh has 70,799 doctors and 46 colleges. Also, as experts point out, these are also states with a considerable urban population and a good network of private hospitals.
“It's not just the private hospitals that make the difference. Many choose places considering the opportunity to run clinics which is more lucrative in urban areas. Also, they look out for other support infrastructure, like schools and so on, that is good for their families ,“ Bhojani said.
Source: Times of India, 23-05-2016
