cover story
country where extension of
existing services and capacity
building will be done. Also, 58
districts hospitals were shortlisted
for upgrading as medical colleges
to deal with the problem of
shortage of doctors and
paramedical staff. As per Dr M C
Mishra, the AIIMS at Delhi is in
the process of digitizing of patient
record with the Tata Consulting
Services (TCS). We are trying to
solve accommodation issues.
3500 more beds in next seven
years,” he says.
Will that really solve the
mammoth task in sight. As per
the Aarogya Bharat report 2015
of industry association,
NATHEALTH, there is a shortfall
of nearly 2 million doctors and 4
million nurses in the Indian
healthcare system. The numbers
of primary health care centers
(PHCs) is also limited, 8 percent
of the centers do not have doctors
or medical staff, 39 percent do
not have lab technicians and 18
percent PHCs do not even have a
pharmacist. Not only the
scarcity of medical personnel;
the problem of under-utilization
is also a major challenge in
Indian healthcare system.
Ironically, about 50 percent of
the existing medical workforce
does not practice in the formal
health system.
There is also the basic skilling issue
here. Our medical doctors are
mostly young and ambitious with
no idea or guidance towards serving
the public in far flung areas. Dr
Gangandeep Kang hits the nail on
the head when she says, “We have a
systemic problem in India. We send
our children to study medical
research at a young age whereas in
developed nations, the
undergraduate courses involve
community orientation, community
18
BioVoiceNews | September 2016
“
A mutually
rewarding
mechanism could
be worked out wherein,
while the private
institutions having
ICMR or other
registered research
body units could be
rewarded with certain
incentives, on the other
hand ICMR would have
the advantage of
tapping and grooming
young medicos with
research aptitude
Dr Jitendra Singh, Diabetologist
and Union Minister
health systems, secondary hospital
postings and research internships.
These help in preparing them to
understand that healthcare is
not just a regular job but has
broader implications.”
“The Centre is working on an
elaborate plan to roll out a
blueprint for health services with
the participation of the private
sector in next two months and is
committed to provide it to the last
man of the society,” Nadda said,
delivering a lecture on ‘Universal
Healthcare: Forging Partnerships
with the Private Sector’in Bhopal
recently. Referring to the
availability of health
infrastructure in the country, Mr
Nadda said the major problem is
not availability of resources but
its poor implementation.
Dr K K Talwar, noted Cardiologist
feels that the time has come that
India uses the experience gained
over a long period of time. He
feels that research is required to
find out the ways to develop
affordable diagnostic tools and
only research is an integral part of
way forward for universal health.
And one must agree. The
appropriate funding to research
projects, promotion of skill
training and aptitude, facilitating
collaborative models of research
will not only help in fostering
innovation but help in creating
affordable solutions for a country
like India.
One thing is clear. The
government authorities are well
aware about the root of the
problem but the steps taken
doesn’t help to resolve questions
of cost effectiveness and in
bringing down the out of pocket
expenditure through evidencebased technology and health
practices after next decade. It is
just that the broader vision has to
be encompassed with a basic
model of collaborative health
research and incentive system.
The policymakers must realize
that the innovation in health
services, diagnostics, and
equipment has the potential to
address not only our basic
healthcare issues but make India
a global health innovation hub,
moving over from the tag of being
just the services provider.
Note: The article is based on
deliberations held at various
forums in last six months