India aims to have a doctor for every 1,000 people by 2031

NEW DELHI: India has just one doctor for 1,700 people. In comparison, the doctor population ratio globally is 1.5:1,000. An internal note prepared by Medical Council of India's 'Undergraduate Education Working Group' said the target being put in place for India is 1 doctor for 1,000 population by 2031.

The note, available with TOI, also looked at the situation in other countries. Somalia has one doctor for 10,000 population, Pakistan has one doctor for 1,923 population and Egypt has one doctor per 1,484 population. China's doctor population ratio stands at 1:1063, Korea 1:951, Brazil 1:844, Singapore 1:714, Japan 1:606, Thailand 1:500, UK 1:469, US 1:350 and Germany 1:296.

The note said an in-depth analysis of the number of doctors in the country was done. The next exercise that the working group undertook was to estimate the number of doctors needed to achieve this target. The working group looked at the existing number of medical colleges, the current intake of these colleges and the critical mass of doctors that would be needed to achieve this target.

Currently, there are 330 medical colleges with an intake of approximately 35,000 students. With this intake, the shortfall of doctors by 2031 is estimated to be 9.54 lakh.

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