Govt addressing lack of human resource supply in hospitals, says V K Paul

Paul highlights major infra push given in healthcare sector

The government is looking to address issues related to lack of human resource in medical institutions, V K Paul, Member, NITI Aayog said on Friday.

Addressing the FICCI Heal Conference in New Delhi, Paul said that the government has already doubled the number of medical colleges from 387 to 716. This has been accompanied by a rise in the number of MBBS seats from 52,000 to about 108,000 and postgraduate seats from 32,000 to over 68,000.

Paul also announced that India has crossed the World Health Organisation (WHO) benchmark of one doctor per thousand patients for allopathy. "We currently stand at 1.3 doctors per thousand patients after adding Ayush doctors to this tally," he said.

Speaking on the government's infrastructure push, he said that there has been an expansion in medical institutions, district hospitals, and critical care units under the Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM ABHIM) scheme.

This has led to a reduction in out-of-pocket expenditure for patients from 63 per cent to 47 per cent due to accessible healthcare in their blocks and districts. Stressing the need to increase primary healthcare coverage, Paul underlined that the government would need help from private players in this endeavour.

Around 161,000 primary healthcare centres and sub-centres have already been converted into Health and Wellness Centres (HWC) before December 2022. "These HWCs are working in the direction of providing comprehensive primary healthcare. We intend to increase their scope to provide palliative, mental health, and geriatric care as well," he added.