India Achieves WHO-Recommended Doctor-Population Ratio Through Allopathic and AYUSH practitioners
SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being | SDG 4: Quality Education
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare | Ministry of AYUSH
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare provided an update on medical education, highlighting significant expansion since 2014, leading India to surpass the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended doctor-population ratio.
Key Achievements in Health Human Resources (Since 2014):
Doctor-Population Ratio: Estimated at 1:811 (based on the availability of Allopathic and AYUSH practitioners), exceeding the WHO norm of 1:1000.
There are 13,86,150 registered Allopathic doctors and 7,51,768 registered AYUSH practitioners.
Medical College Growth: The number of medical colleges has more than doubled, increasing from 387 to 818.
UG Seat Expansion: Undergraduate (UG) medical seats increased from 51,348 to 1,28,875.
PG Seat Expansion: Post-Graduate (PG) medical seats grew substantially from 31,185 to 82,059.
Nursing Personnel: There are 42.94 lakh registered nursing personnel, supported by 5,253 nursing institutions producing nearly 3.87 lakh nurses annually.
Policy Relevance
The massive expansion in medical seats and colleges—reflecting a national commitment to health human capital development since 2014—is of critical developmental and institutional relevance. Achieving a doctor-population ratio better than the WHO recommendation is foundational to strengthening India’s public health system. However, the next policy challenge lies in ensuring that this increased supply of doctors and nurses is equitably distributed across underserved rural and remote areas, in line with the Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS 2022) for facility and bed provisions.
What is the Doctor-Population Ratio?→ The Doctor-Population Ratio is a key public health metric used to measure the availability of medical professionals relative to the general population. It is calculated by taking the total number of registered and assumed-available medical practitioners and dividing it by the country’s population. The WHO recommends a ratio of 1:1000 to ensure basic healthcare access.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders: What specific policy incentives (e.g., compulsory rural service bonds, differential pay) will the Ministry of Health implement to ensure the new medical graduates are equitably deployed to underserved rural and remote areas?
Follow the full news here: Update on Medical Education in India