Chennai: With the country being at the ‘other’ end when it comes to healthcare, government’s think tank NITI Aayog has said around five lakh medical specialists need to be deployed in the country to keep matters from getting out of hand.
In its ‘Strategy for New India @75 report, NITI Aayog has recommended that India needs around five lakh medical specialists.
Of the 1,830 faculty posts across six All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), approximately 583 (31 per cent) had been filled up until July 2017. NITI Aayog has observed that urban areas have four times as many doctors and three times as many nurses as compared to rural areas.
As of March 2017, there were 10.23 lakh allopathic doctors registered with the MCI or State medical councils, according to the report.
NITI Aayog has also suggested that India should have an updated curriculum for medical and allied professions that keep pace with the changing dynamics of public health, policy, and demographics.
NITI Aayog has also suggested that the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill, 2017 should be introduced. The think tank of the government has observed that regulatory bodies, such as the Medical Council of India and the Nursing Council of India, have failed to ensure adequate availability and quality of health professionals.
It also recommended revamping the regulatory system of nursing education to ensure quality training in nursing schools. It also stressed on developing centres of excellence in nursing and enhancing the stature of government nurses.
Aayog had also suggested a patter of conditions to facilitate import of doctors, especially those of Indian origin working abroad. ‘We should also deploy teachers from universities abroad as visiting professors at AIIMS or NIEs while linking at least 40 per cent of district hospitals with medical colleges,’ recommended NITI Aayog in its report.
Further, the thinktank recommended that there should also be a deployment of doctors and specialists from the private sector to government hospitals on a visiting or honorary basis.