The Medical Push
Our Honorable Prime Minister spoke on a
whole gamut of issues close to his heart from the ramparts of the Red Fort, but
his mention of the shortage of doctors really caught my eye.
Question
is that if there is a shortage of doctors, and then what do we do about it? The
answer would be to increase the number of doctors, but how?
Apart
from increasing enrollment in existing institutions and opening up of new
medical colleges, skill enhancement of the Registered Medical Practitioners could
easily meet the objective in the short term.
Young
as well as experienced doctors are averse to relocate to hospitals in the
semi-urban/rural areas, irrespective of higher salaries offered there. It is primarily
due to the lack of social infrastructure such as malls, movie theaters,
restaurants, entertainment zones and good schools for their children. People
want urban conveniences, and these are missing in the hinterland
A
step to address the above problem could be launch of a formal study course in
medicine & healthcare, which up-skills the current lot of registered
medical practitioners, and also adds new ones, and these will be people who
belong to, and are already present in the hinterland.
I
would give 3-5 years for this initiative to show results, right in time for elections 2024.
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