New Delhi: Medical Council of India (MCI) has decided to keep a track of the exact number of doctors available across the nation. MCI is the statutory body which is entrusted with the task of regulating medical colleges, affiliation, new colleges, and doctor’s registration in India. According to MCI's Indian Medical Register, the nation apparently has 840,678 registered medical practitioners. The register was last updated in April 2011. However, the data includes names of those doctors also who were registered way back in 1933. MCI admits that the chances of those doctors being alive are low.
As per sources, till date, neither the Union health ministry nor the MCI has strictly taken any step for re-registration of doctors. This is the main reason due to which India isn't sure about the number of doctors it actually has. Therefore, the MCI has decided to ask the ministry to make it mandatory for all doctors to re-register with the country's 24 state medical boards, as well as MCI, every five years. This will help in keeping a track of how many doctors registered with MCI are still alive, how many have retired or how many have left for abroad.
According to a statement issued by MCI governing body chairman Dr S K Sarin said, the Council will be asking the Union health ministry to bring in several new regulations. He said one of it will be compulsory re-registration for doctors. He added that the re-certification and revalidation of doctors is necessary. It will help the Council to understand accurately how many are in active practice in India. He mentioned that the available data includes many doctors who would have migrated abroad or may not be living anymore.
As per sources, an MCI's note on curricular reform in undergraduate medical education says that current doctor-population ratio in India is 1:1700 when compared to a world average of 1.5:1000. Moreover, the committee came to a conclusion that targeted doctor population ratio should be 1:1000 by 2031. It also informed that in total there are 330 medical colleges with an intake capacity of approximately 35,000. Besides, with the current intake of doctors, their shortfall is estimated at 9.54 lakhs by 2031.
