Key Points

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 per cent 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 doctor/medical professional in the country include the centrally sponsored scheme for establishment of new medical college by upgrading district/referral hospital, 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' of Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) scheme, a total of 75 projects have been approved, of which 71 projects are complete, according to the minister.

Under the Central Sector Scheme for setting up of new AIIMS, 22 AIIMS have been approved, and undergraduate courses have been started in 19 of these.

“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/third year PG students of medical colleges are posted in district hospitals," said the minister.

Non-Monetary incentives such as preferential admission in postgraduate courses for staff serving in difficult areas and improving accommodation arrangement in rural areas have also been introduced under the NHM, while multi-skilling of doctors is supported under the NHM to overcome the shortage of specialists, she mentioned.

Skill upgradation of existing HR is another major strategy under NRHM for achieving improvement in health outcomes, she added.

- IANS