DTMT Network

India’s Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has called for addressing the shortage of trained human resources in the health sector on a war footing to provide better and timely treatemnt to patients.

Noting the low doctor to population ratio at 1:1,511 in India against the WHO norm of 1:1,000, Naidu emphasized the need for creating more medical colleges in line with the government’s intention of setting up one medical college and hospital in every district of India.

Speaking at the convocation of the University College of Medical Sciences, New Delhi on September 25,2021, Naidu has called for improving the nurse to population ratio (1:670 in India, compared to the WHO norm of 1:300) in a mission mode.

On the shortage of trained manpower in rural areas, the vice president suggested creating better incentives and infrastructure to attract health care workers to serve in the villages.

The Vice President also called for setting up more state-of-the-art hospitals in rural areas, with proactive participation from the private sector. He observed that medical advice or consultation should be accessible and affordable for the common people.

Hailing the ‘critical role’ of paramedical personnel in healthcare, the Vice President said the importance of the service they render came to the fore during the pandemic as they worked tirelessly over the past year.

He pointed out that Indian nurses and paramedical staff have earned a great reputation and demand globally over the years with their skills, dedication and caring nature. “ The need of the hour is to leverage the innate skill among our youth to train more allied health workers and assign a larger role for them in our public health”, he added.

Expressing his concern over the high out-of-pocket expenditure for health in the counctry, Naidu said such health expenses adversely affect low-income households that face the risk of being pushed into poverty.