Lok Sabha Question No. 2292 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-15
Subject: Shortage of Doctors in Rural Areas
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: Chandrani Murmu

## GOVERNMENT OFINDIA MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE DEPARTMENT OFHEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2292 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 15 th DECEMBER, 2023

## SHORTAGE OF DOCTORS IN RURALAREAS

## 2292. MS. CHANDRANI MURMU:

Will the Minister of HEALTHANDFAMILYWELFARE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has taken note of the fact that there is a gap between supply and demand for doctors in rural and village areas across the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof along with the ratio of demand and availability of doctors; and
- (c) the manner in which the Government proposes to minimize the gap?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OFSTATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (DR. BHARATI PRAVIN PAWAR)

- (a) to (c): There are 13,08,009 allopathic doctors registered with the State Medical Councils and the National Medical Commission (NMC) as on June, 2022. Assuming 80% availability of registered allopathic doctors and 5.65 lakh AYUSH doctors, the doctor-population ratio in the country is 1:834.

The details of Doctors in the rural area of the country are available at website of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare at the Uniform Resources Locator (URL) as under: https://main.mohfw.gov.in/sites/default/files/RHS%202021-22\_2.pdf .

All the administrative and personnel matters related to health human resource lies with the respective State/UT Governments. Under National Health Mission, Ministry (NHM) of Health & Family Welfare provides financial and technical support to States/UTs to strengthen their healthcare systems based on the requirements posed by them in their Programme Implementation Plans (PIPs) within their overall resource envelope.

Under NHM, following types of guidelines for encouraging doctors to practice in rural and remote areas of the country to minimize the gap between supply and demand for doctors:

-  Hard area allowance to specialist doctors for serving in rural and remote areas and for their residential quarters so that they find it attractive to serve in public health facilities in such areas.
-  Honorarium to Gynecologists/ Emergency Obstetric Care (EmoC) trained, Pediatricians & Anesthetist/ Life Saving Anaesthesia Skills (LSAS) trained doctors is also provided to increase availability of specialists for conducting Cesarean Sections in rural & remote area.
-  Incentives like special incentives for doctors, incentive for Auxiliary Nurse and Midwife (ANM) for ensuring timely Antenatal Checkup (ANC) checkup and recording, incentives for conducting Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health activities.
-  States are also allowed to offer negotiable salary to attract specialist including flexibility in strategies such as ' You Quote We Pay ' .
-  Non-Monetary incentives such as preferential admission in post graduate courses for staff serving in difficult areas and improving accommodation arrangement in rural areas have also been introduced under NHM.
-  Multi-skilling of doctors is supported under NHM to overcome the shortage of specialists. Skill upgradation of existing HR is another major strategy under NRHM for achieving improvement in health outcomes.

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