anomalous shortage of specialist doctors

[Guest guest]

I am circulating this mail with a view that the Govt will open more and more

medical colleges considering this fragmented statistics of shortage of

doctors.The

shortage is a real fact but mainly concentrated in rural and district areas

where one would find it hard to cope due to various social,econominc reasons.It

might be your kids or somebody else's who are longing to join medical field.make

them aware of the realities of present day situation before they can

decide.career

counselling based on reality is hardly existent in our system.

 

Shortage of specialists puts healthcare on life support

 

NEELAM RAAJ

 

When seven-month-pregnant Khiloni of MP's Gwalior district started

haemorrhaging, her family bundled her into a bullock-cart and took her to the

nearest

primary health centre in Murar block. The PHC had no trained birth attendant and

Khiloni died on the kuchcha road that links Duhiya village and Gwalior

city. When it comes to healthcare, there are two Indias: one that boasts

state-of-the-art hospitals which attract medical tourists from affluent

countries,

and the other â? " in which most of the population lives â? " whose residents have

limited or no access to quality care.

Every public hospital in any big city has serpentine queues, and overburdened

doctors. Not surprising since India has just six doctors for every 10,000

people as compared with the global average of 15, according to a 2007 report by

rating agency Crisil. ''States like Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand have just

two doctors for 100,000 people,'' says Benaifer Jehani of Crisil.

A recent Planning Commission report said that India is facing a shortage of six

lakh doctors, ten lakh nurses and two lakh dental surgeons. " The availability

of specialist manpower at community health centres is particularly bad. As

against the sanctioned posts, about 59.4% surgeons, 45% obstetricians and

gynaecologists,

61% physicians and 53% paediatricians were not in position (in March 2006), " the

report noted. It also drew attention to the low turnout of doctors with

post-graduate degrees.

The shortage of surgeons and specialists is also worrying doctors like Devi

Shetty, cardiac surgeon and chairman of Narayana Health City, Bangalore. ''We

have 32,000 students passing out every year with MBBS degrees, but only 10% of

them get to do post-graduation. Even in Karnataka, which has more colleges

for PG as compared to the northern states, as many as 1,000 applicants vie for a

single PG seat.'' The country urgently needs more institutes of higher

medical education, he stresses.

The government seems to have woken up to the problem. The Union health ministry

is modifying some of the regulations under the Indian Medical Council Act,

1956, that will relax operating, staffing and land norms and make it easier to

establish medical colleges in India.

In a move to bring back Indian doctors settled abroad, the Indian government has

also decided to recognize graduate medical degrees from Britain, the US,

Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, provided they are recognized in the

respective countries.

Until now, doctors with an undergraduate degree from India but a graduate degree

from another country were not allowed to practice in India. Indian doctors

with graduate degrees from the approved countries will now be allowed to

practise in India at any public or private hospital. They can also be recruited

to teach undergraduates in any medical college.

These steps may alleviate the situation somewhat but the medical fraternity is

unanimous in its opinion that more needs to be done, specially in view of

the continued exodus of medical talent to the West. With millions afflicted with

infectious diseases such as TB and the growing incidence of lifestyle

diseases such as diabetes and heart problems, the availability of highly skilled

doctors may prove crucial in nursing the country back to health.

With inputs from Nirmala N Nagaraj in Bangalore