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Bhubaneswar: When the once in a lifetime pandemic has put a glare on how the shortage of doctors in the critical care had resulted in the loss of more precious lives in the State to the contagion lethal virus, the Fifteenth Finance Commission report released recently had dropped a howler at Odisha. The State has been ranked at 12th poorest in the allopathic doctor-to-population ratio in the country.
As per the report, Odisha had a total of 22,521 allopathic doctors till 2019, whereas the number of allopathic doctors rendering services in the government sector stood at mere 4,300 – of which around 917 were deployed at the PHC (Primary Healthcare Centre) level.
DOCTOR – POPULATION RATIO IN ODISHA
The 15th Finance Commission has thus estimated the doctor to population ratio in the State at 1 doctor per 1864 people. For which, Odisha has been placed at 12th rank among the 28 states in the country.
Though Goa topped the country (1:380), but if the indicator of big states is taken into account then it’s the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh that has topped with 1 doctor per 491 persons, when the ideal ratio of doctor to population prescribed by WHO stood at 1: 1000.
Odisha, thus, has been yards away from the WHO benchmark.
MORE SKEWED DETAILS
The ratio of population to government doctors in Odisha looks very alarming. Given that the strength of government doctors are not even one-fifth of the registered doctors in the State, the population proportion to doctors stood at 1 doctor per massive 9,761 persons.
And the population per PHC doctor is more yawning. The ratio has been estimated at 1 PHC doctor per a humungous 45,773.
“The PHCs in the state cater to rural areas. And it is this ultra-skewed ratio of doctors to a population that is responsible for the proliferation of quacks in the villages in the State,” lamented KK Swain, Odisha Voluntary Health Association.
ODISHA VS ANDHRA PRADESH
When Odisha has around 1,375 PHC, including 87 in urban areas, neighbouring Andhra Pradesh has nearly 1,509, including 364 in urban areas.
Now sample the contrast. For a high of 2,045 PHC doctors in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha has mere 917. Though Odisha has mere 134 PHCs less than Andhra Pradesh, the gap in doctors looks very gaping – the difference stood at a whopping 1,128.
WHY ODISHA HAS COME TO SUCH A PASS?
Data available with the State Health Department brings to the fore the fact that this poor ratio is due to the gap between demand and supply of doctors.
When Andhra Pradesh has around 31 medical colleges with a passing-out capacity of around 4,750 seats every year; Odisha has only nine medical colleges with a passing-out strength of around 900 every year.
THE FUTURE SCENARIO
Though the total MBBS seats had seen a rise since 2018, the total MBBS course intake capacity in Odisha now stands at around 1,350. Moreover, under the Centrally-sponsored scheme, the State could see an addition of around 750 more MBBS seats by the end of this year. Three more medical colleges in the districts of Puri, Baleswar and Balangir would commence their MBBS courses in the near future, data with State Health Department reveals.
WHEN ODISHA WILL ACHIEVE WHO RATIO?
The moot question in everybody’s mind is will the increased intake make the State realise the WHO goal of 1 doctor per 1,000 population very soon? The answer is very unlikely.
In order to accomplish the WHO norms of doctor to population ratio, the State has to wait till the year 2035, when at the current rate of intake India will achieve the WHO average by only in 2025, said a former joint director in State Health Directorate.
TOP PERFORMERS IN INDIA
As per the report, the top performers are Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Maharashtra. All these States have ratios better than the WHO norm of 1:1,000. The reason behind their success story is all the top performers among the major states have a higher intake capacity than that of Odisha.
