1. Current Healthcare Scenario in India
Currently the health infrastructure and the healthcare scenario in India is very bleak. The
Government has to take some concrete measures and implement them immediately! Number
of Clinics/hospitals, both in urban and rural sectors is needed very urgently and should be
increased. This is a big issue because the life of an individual is the most valuable asset, and
we can’t imagine the helplessness of people when they cannot afford to get their loved ones
treated due to lack of funds, or non availability of medical equipments or doctors.
A doctor is of prime importance in any country. I recently went for a check up of my younger
brother in a nearby clinic in Pune. At the OPD there was a big queue of patients, so we
waited for half an hour and then finally got the call. While returning, various thoughts were
there in my mind. I realized the importance of a doctor to each of us. The doctor there, on an
average was looking after 4-5 patients in a span of 10 minutes and trying his best to help all
the patients.
A doctor is compared to God but I wonder why a doctor has to undergo so much of stress.
This stress can be related to shortage of doctors and other medical professionals in the
country or can be related with various patient information related issues. There has been
numerous incidents where a doctor has been attacked when any case goes wrong. The
government has failed to stop such assaults.
According to a Planning Commission report, while India is short of six lakh doctors, 10 lakh
nurses and two lakh dental surgeons. This shortage affects the efficiency of the doctors as
they are over burdened. At the same time, they are paid so less a remuneration that it furthers
dampen their spirit. There are numerous reasons for the same. The entrance for medical
studies is so tough in the country that if 100 students get through for MBBS courses, only 10
manage a seat in PG course and 1 in super specialization courses. This is because, there are
very few seats available. Reservations on these less seats make it more pathetic. This leads to
brain drain and till date our government has not addressed the problem with seriousness it
should have. If the things are not taken care of right now then probably after a decade we will
land in a situation where this gap will only increase.
The need of the hour is to immediately focus on the solution rather than mulling on them. We
need to set up more medical, dental, paramedical and nursing colleges, and also to
substantially increase the number of seats in the existing colleges. Moreover, there should be
encouragement for more private participation because I have full belief that government of
India won’t be able to address the problems on its own because of politics and bureaucracy
involved in each step. There are projections that the Indian healthcare industry would become
a $ 75 billion industry by 2012 with medical tourism reaching $ 2 billion in the same span.
These are the rosy figures but with current situation I doubt whether we will be able to enter
this predicted golden-era or not.