Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 73
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 74
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
Notice (8): Undefined variable: urlPrefix [APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8]latest-news-updates/india-needs-more-health-workers-lancet-by-anuradha-mascarenhas-5684.html"/> LATEST NEWS UPDATES | India needs more health workers: Lancet by Anuradha Mascarenhas | Im4change.org
Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

India needs more health workers: Lancet by Anuradha Mascarenhas


While reliable data on health workers in India is difficult to obtain, a report in The Lancet: India series says that the country has roughly 20 health workers per 10,000 population.

The figure is arrived at when the workforce is calculated including allopathic doctors (31%), nurses and midwives (30%), pharmacists (11%), practitioners of ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha, and homoeopathy (9%), and others (9%).

In their paper ‘Human Resources for Health in India’, experts Mohan Rao, Krishna D Rao, A K Shiva Kumar, Mirai Chatterjee and Thiagarajan Sundararaman have called for urgent reforms. Associated with the Public Health Foundation of India, Rao regrets the absence of adequately trained health-care providers in public and private sectors.

The National Rural Health Mission has brought in Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) services into mainstream medicine and by helping accredit 70,000 social health activists.

The researchers have also noted the uneven distribution of health workers across the country. While Chandigarh has 23.2 health workers per 10,000 population, in Meghalaya, the number is just 2.5. The number of allopathic doctors per 10,000 people in states such as Goa (41.6) and Kerala (38.4) is up to three times higher than in states such as Orissa (19.7) and Chhattisgarh (15.8).

The number of women doctors is strikingly low: 7.5 per 10,000 in Chandigarh and 0.26 in Bihar. Only 17 per cent of allopathic doctors and 6 per cent in rural areas are women.