aarogya.com
  • Home
  • Complementary Medicine
    • Ayurveda
    • Homeopathy
    • Naturopathy
    • Acupressure
    • Acupuncture
    • Aromatherapy
    • Batch Flower Remedies
    • Home Remedies
    • Massage
    • Yoga
    • Meditation
    • Reiki
    • Bodywork
    • Medical Palmistry
  • Conditions & Diseases
    • Acute Diarrheal Disease
    • Appendicitis
    • Blindness
    • Brucellosis
    • Chicken Pox
    • Conjunctivitis
    • Dysentery
    • Hookworm
    • Japanese Encephalitis
    • Lymphatic Filariasis
    • Plague
    • Rubella
    • Typhoid Fever
    • Yellow Fever
    • Allergy
    • Arthritis
    • Blood Pressure
    • Computer Health Hazards
    • Chikungunya Fever
    • Dengue
    • Guinea Worm
    • Influenza
    • Leprosy
    • Malaria
    • Poliomyelitis
    • Tetanus
    • Whooping Cough
    • Viral Hepatitis
    • Amebiasis
    • Asthma
    • Bronchitis
    • Diagnostic Tests
    • Cholera
    • Diphtheria
    • Hepatitis
    • Irritable Bowel Syndrome
    • Leptospirosis
    • Measles
    • Rabies
    • Tuberculosis
    • Yaws
  • Family Health
    • Children's Health
    • Diet & Nutrition
    • First Aid
    • Fitness
    • Humor & Trivia
    • Men's Health
    • Preventive Health
    • Senior's Health
    • Senior Citizen Corner
    • Teen’s Health
    • Vets and Pets
    • Women’s Health
  • Health Resources
    • Blood Donation
    • Career Opportunities
    • Daily Health Tips
    • Health Programs
    • Featured Hospitals
    • Medical Education
    • Health Professional's Negligence
    • Medical Tourism
    • Video Eye
    • Rural Health
    • Patients' Rights Forum
  • Insurance
    • Euthanasia
    • Health Insurance
    • Health Insurance Policies
    • Insurance Companies
    • Medical Ethics
    • Medical Jurisprudence
    • Research
    • Telemedicine
    • Compare Health Insurance
  • Sex & Sexuality
    • What is Sex & Sexuality?
    • FAQs
    • Marriage & Pregnancy
    • Sex Education
  • Support Groups
    • Addiction
    • Aids
    • Cancer
    • Epilepsy
    • Swine Flu
    • Blood Search
    • Vivah
    • Health Directory
    • Alzheimer's Disease
    • Medical Support Groups
    • Cardiology
    • Depression
    • Depression Screening Test
    • Diabetes
    • Disability
    • Kidney
    • Obesity
    • Pregnancy
    • Schizophrenia
    • Vitiligo
Aarogya.com
Marathi | Gujarati | Register | Login
  • Home
  • News and Updates
  • Year 2010
  • Acute Shortage of Doctors, Paramedics in Rural Areas

Acute Shortage of Doctors, Paramedics in Rural Areas

  • Print
Details
Hits: 2924
Times of India
07 August 2010
By Kounteya Sinha
New Delhi, India

Posts Of 7243 Healthcare Workers, 1701 Assistants Lying Vacant
Unfair RatioUnfair Ratio
The shortage of doctors and paramedical staff for the country’s poor and downtrodden is assuming alarming proportions. According to the latest data on rural health statistics, a huge number of posts sanctioned for medical staff in primary and community health centers have been lying vacant.

Consider the case of primary health centres. The vacancies stack up to 5,224 doctors, 7,243 health care workers and 1701 health assistants, respectively. The situation is equally grim for community health centres.

As many as 4,026 sanctioned posts for specialists are up for grabs, while that of pharmacists are 5,000. Cumulatively speaking, 5,591 slots for lab technicians are yet to be filled, and there is a dire need for 10,089 nurses and midwifes. Sub centers for health are short of 26,208 health workers.

Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad maintained that the appointment of doctors and paramedical staff is done by respective state governments. “The reasons of shortage may vary from state to state. It could be because of shortage of trained manpower or even less development of basic infrastructure like roads, connectivity and banks,” he reasoned. According to the ministry, human resource engagement is a priority issue, and an integral part of the flagship National Rural Health Mission.

“This includes multiskilling of doctors and paramedics, provision of incentives, to serve in rural areas like blended payments, difficult areas allowances, PG allowance, case based payments and improved accommodation arrangements. Provision of Ayush doctors and paramedics in PHCs and CHCs to serve as additional doctors in rural areas are also being looked at. Block pooling of doctors in underserved areas, engaging with the non–government sector for underserved areas are also being worked out,” Azad said.

Experts say more than the vacant positions, absconding doctors are a genuine cause for concern. Officials claim though many doctors don’t even turn up to treat patients in primiary and community health centres, they continue to draw their salaries on a regular basis.

An earlier ministry report had pointed out while only 6.3% of the posts for doctors are vacant on paper, a staggering 67% of them play truant.

To make matter worse,the nation has been facing an acute shortage of doctors for long. As per a Planning Commission study, the country is short of six lakh doctors, 10 lakh nurses and 2 lakh dental surgeons, leading to a dismal doctor–patient ratio. In fact, for every 10,000 Indians, there is only one doctor. Though there is an annual demand for 30,000 specialised doctors, only 12,000 post–graduate students pass out every year.

In a bid to tide over the growing crisis, the ministry is now mulling over the option of curtailing the duration of the undergraduate medical degree to three and a half years.

Under the scheme, the Bachelor of Rural Medicine and Surgery (BRMS) degree can be acquired in two phases and at two different levels –in community health facility (one–and–a–half–year duration) and sub–divisional hospitals (secondary level hospitals) for a further duration of two years.

Disclaimer: The news story on this page is the copyright of the cited publication. This has been reproduced here for visitors to review, comment on and discuss. This is in keeping with the principle of ‘Fair dealing’ or ‘Fair use’. Visitors may click on the publication name, in the news story, to visit the original article as it appears on the publication’s website

0
Introducing Digital Practice for Doctors & Healthcare professionals
Swine Flu
National Award for Outstanding achievement by a Non-Professional - Tushar Sampat
Health Professional's Negligence
Health Professional's Negligence
Records of published articles in the newspapers helps common people about precautions to be taken while seeking the services from health professionals and also helps health professionals to rectify the negligence.
read more…
Specialties
Common Symptoms


Aarogya Network

aarogya.com aims to be India’s leading comprehensive health information portal. The site has sections, which cover almost all the medical specialties and give useful information on various diseases. To enhance its reach, the content is available in Indian languages too. We were the first health website to introduce online support groups. Addiction support and Epilepsy support are examples of some very active and vibrant communities.

» Click here to see all our support groups

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

 Get health related new information.

Pune Aarogya
Digital Media Dedicated to Healthcare of Punekars

Health Tools

  • Health Directory
  • Message Board
  • Health Calculators
  • Depression Screening Test

About Aarogya.com

aarogya.com aims to be India’s leading comprehensive health information portal. The site has sections, which cover almost all the medical specialties

Read more...

Suggestions

This is YOUR site, so if you have suggestions or feedback on how we can improve it for you, please let us know! We do our best to keep up!

Read more...

User Comments

“My name is Paulette Conners and I just had to send you an email thanking you since one of the pages on your site was very helpful!”

  • About Us
  • Company Profile
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Feedback
  • Disclaimer
  • Sitemap
  • Invite Your Friends

© 2017 www.aarogya.com. All Rights Reserved.