E-Paper
UP needs 25,000 more doctors, say experts
Uttar Pradesh needed at least 25,000 more doctors to ensure healthcare reached everyone, experts said.
Uttar Pradesh needed at least 25,000 more doctors to ensure healthcare reached everyone, experts said.
Their assessment is in contrast to the health department’s estimate that the state is short of 7000 doctors against the sanctioned 18,700 posts. Health minister JP Singh had recently mentioned that state’s present sanctioned post of doctors was based on the 2001 census. If the 2011 census was made the criterion, the state would require 36,000 doctors, he had said.
“There is a dire need of specialists. If you want to reduce the load on district hospitals and make sure healthcare reaches one and all, specialists are required at the block level or at the community health centres (CHC),” said Dr Sachin Vaish, president of Provincial Medical Services Association (PMSA).
He said for each of the 822 CHCs, five specialists (orthopaedic, gynaecologist, surgeon, physician and paediatrician) were required to be on eight-hour duty, which meant 12,330 specialists were needed at CHCs across the state.
Similarly, the deployment of five specialists each on eight-hour duty at 157 district hospitals meant 2,355 specialists would be required at district hospitals across the state.
In all, 14,500 specialists would be required at both CHCs and district hospitals across the state, he added.
At present, there is one doctor for about 16,000 people in the state, but if the number of doctors is raised to 36,000 there will be one doctor for every 6000 people.
Although this will be still less than what the Indian public health system demands (one doctor for a population of every 1000), it will be a big relief nonetheless, said Dr Amit Singh, general secretary, PMSA.
“The government has increased the retirement age of doctors from 58 to 62 and plans are there to take it to 65 years. But a better solution is to develop the environment to recruit more doctors. By increasing the retirement age, the government will stop about 300 (doctors) every year (from leaving service) but adequate working conditions can get thousands of more doctors,” said Dr Vaish.
