President urges doctors to serve in rural India
November 16th, 2009 - 10:54 pm ICT by ANI
- 
New Delhi, Nov.17 (ANI): President Pratibha Patil on Monday appealed to young doctors to devote some time in rural parts of the country.
Addressing the 37th annual convocation of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in the national capital, President Patil said in view of severe shortage of doctors in rural India, young doctors should respond to the government’s call on rural postings.
“I urge young doctors of the country to devote some years of their professional lives to working in rural areas by responding positively to the call of the Government to take up rural postings,” said Pratibha Devisingh Patil.
President Patil said that the Ministry of Health and Family welfare was setting up more medical colleges to overcome acute shortage of doctors and medical personnel.
“The doctor to patient ratio is about 1:1500, while the recommended ratio is 1: 250. Aware of this situation, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is making efforts to bring in path breaking changes to overcome the acute shortage of doctors, nurses and medical personnel in the health sector. Some of these measures include facilitation for setting-up of more medical colleges that will include AIIMS-like institutions, paramedical training institutes and increasing the number of specialists,” the President said.
There are millions of people living in Indian villages, who have very little access to quality medical care. To bridge this gap the government launched National Rural Health Mission to provide quality healthcare in the remotest corners of the country. (ANI)
Related Stories
- President Patil exhorts AIIMS doctors to serve in rural areas - Nov 16, 2009
- President calls on young doctors to work in villages - Nov 16, 2009
- Don't leave for greener pastures, Azad tells AIIMS doctors - Sep 25, 2009
- Monetary incentives for medicos to work in remote areas: Azad (Lead) - Jul 01, 2009
- New initiatives of the health ministry - Sep 17, 2009
- Indian medical community exhorted to work for inclusive medical care - Oct 16, 2009
- Incentive for fast completion of AIIMS-like hospitals - Nov 16, 2009
- PM talks education, health, his security blamed for death (Roundup) - Nov 03, 2009
- Don't leave AIIMS for private institution, Azad tells doctors - Sep 25, 2009
- Manmohan Singh asks young medics to serve the poor - Nov 03, 2009
- National
- - acute shortage
- - aiims
- - all india institute of medical sciences
- - convocation
- - health sector
- - india institute
- - indian villages
- - medical colleges
- - ministry of health
- - ministry of health and family welfare
- - national rural health
- - national rural health mission
- - professional lives
- - quality healthcare
- - quality medical care
- - recommended ratio
- - rural areas
- - shortage of doctors
- - training institutes
- - young doctors
Posted in National, |
November 17th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Yeah, send them all to Coventry!
Seriously now, I would request the “government” to consider the following. Auxiliary services and infrastructure are not usually available in “rural areas”. A doctor there is of no use without them. He needs a nurse, and a reasonably well equipped clinic. A modern medical shop with a qualified pharmacist is needed. A lab for conducting X-ray, ultrasonograms, blood tests, biopsies, bacteriology, and preferably modern things lke MRI, etc. should be available within reasonable distance. Also facilities for “telemedicine”. If these are provided, young doctors, even post-graduates in specialties, will gladly go to “rural areas”. If they are not provided, the doctors will not be able to PERFORM any useful service, and their CAREERS WILL BE RUINED FOR EVER. Also, government should make sure there are no quacks providing useless or outdated practices (e.g., homoeopathy, ayurveda, unani, acupuncture etc.) who would make the qualified doctor’s life miserable. I say this particularly because, only yesterday I saw a terrible TV advt put out by the Govt dept “Ayush” promoting homoeopathy! The situation is that a VVIP in govt would go to US or UK at public expense for getting a whitlow treated, but the govt would nonchalantly recommend homoeopathy to the common man suffering from, say, a malignant tumour.