India's doctor-population ratio 1:834: Bharati Pravin Pawar in RS

New Delhi: India's doctor-population ratio is 1:834 assuming 80 per cent availability of registered allopathic doctors and 5.65 lakh AYUSH doctors, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

There are 36.14 lakh nursing personnel in the country and the nurse-population ratio is 1:476, she said.

According to the National Medical Commission (NMC), there are 13,08,009 allopathic doctors registered with the State Medical Councils and the National Medical Commission (NMC) as on June, 2022, Pawar said in a written reply.

"Assuming 80 per cent availability of registered allopathic doctors and 5.65 lakh AYUSH doctors, the doctor-population ratio in the country is 1:834," she said.

Pawar also said the government has increased the number of medical colleges and subsequently increased MBBS seats.  There is an increase of 82 per cent in medical colleges from 387 before 2014 to 706 as of now.  Further, there is an increase of 112 per cent in MBBS seats from 51,348 before 2014 to 1,08,940 as of now and PG seats have been increased to 127 per cent from 31,185 before 2014 to 70,674 as of now, the minister stated.