India has better doctor-patient ratio than WHO recommendation, says Health Minister

The number of registered allopathic doctors in India is over 13 lakhs, as confirmed by Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar, MoS Health.

Recently, Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar, the MoS Health, has said in parliament that India has as many as 596 medical colleges and 13 lakh plus registered medical practitioners. As per the Minister of Health, the doctor-patient ratio in India is 1:834 which is better than the WHO recommendation of 1:1000. Indians have 80% availability of registered medical practitioners and 5.65 lakh AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) practitioners.

The Minister said, "The doctor-population ratio as per WHO recommendation is 1:1000. As per information available, there are 13,01,319 allopathic doctors registered with the State Medical Councils and the National Medical Commission (NMC) as of November 2021. The doctor-population ratio is 1:834 in the country assuming 80% availability of registered allopathic doctors and 5.65 lakh AYUSH doctors," said the Minister.

She also added that there are 596 medical colleges including 313 government and 283 private ones including AIIMS in India with an intake capacity of 88120 MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery)seats.

"The number of PG seats have increased by 78% from 31,185 seats before 2014 to 55,595 seats including DNB and CPS seats. The number of UG seats have increased from 51,348 before 2014 to 88,120 seats as of date which is an increase of 72%."

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