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Simple solution to meet shortage of allopathic doctors in rural India
Highlights
The effective and timely delivery of various health care schemes to rural India is reported to suffer mainly due to the acute shortages of allopathic doctors. This is being cited by MH&FW, Government of India over the years. It is also stated that allopathic doctors seldom prefer rural service.
The effective and timely delivery of various health care schemes to rural India is reported to suffer mainly due to the acute shortages of allopathic doctors. This is being cited by MH&FW, Government of India over the years. It is also stated that allopathic doctors seldom prefer rural service.
The question is how by keep citing & chanting either our helplessness or resorting to complaining that allopathic doctors seldom prefer rural service, we can solve the problem and ensure effective and speedy delivery of various health care schemes in rural India?
Should we not understand the truth behind the perennial problem and work towards solving it permanently?
Can we adopt shortcut, sightless, ‘stitch and suture’ policy i.e. cross pathy (engaging institutionally qualified ISM vaidyas to substitute the need of allopathic doctors in rural India) and can fill up the gap?
Can we afford to risk the rural folks and affect the health cares system in rural India? Can we offer second hand health care system to rural population?
Will legalizing cross pathy by AYUSH vaidyas and gifting them to rural India ever solve the shortage of allopathic doctors in rural India and the multi various health problems that daunt rural population?
Time has come we have to be more creative, committed and proactive in solving the perennial problem in rural health.
The repeated statements of the MH&FW, Government of India that rural India face acute shortage of allopathic doctors undoubtedly establishes the truth that allopathic system of medicine is the only medical system that can offer cure and treatment. That is why shortage of allopathic doctors affects the health care system of our country. Therefore our country must facilitate to bring out more MBBS graduates to meet such shortages and not keep producing AYUSH vaidyas.
One of the bottle necks that may be limiting the MH&FW is want of financial resource. If we recognize and prevent various wasteful expenses the ministry is incurring, we are sure the MH&FW will have adequate resource to reform our health care sector.
We are producing large number of AYUSH vaidyas from several states. The states that produce large number of AYUSH vaidyas suffer the acute shortage of allopathic doctors than the states like Tamil Nadu which produce least number of AYUSH graduates per year.
Further, the effective and able administration and vision of Amma J Jayalalithaa, the Honorable Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in starting more medical colleges in different parts of Tamil Nadu to produce more allopathic doctors has indeed reformed the health care sector in rural Tamil Nadu.
The bottom line truth is that AYUSH doctors whom we have already produced could not meet the rural health care requirements otherwise the health care system in states that produce large number of AYUSH vaidyas would not have been in disarray. The undeniable truth is that AYUSH system cannot meet the health care needs of India as it is paramedical wellness based practice and not system of medicine.
One may argue that AYUSH vaidyas can only meet the general and basic health care needs and the problems in rural India require specialist’s treatment.
The special treatment requirement itself arises only when the basic health care system fails, not understood and not cared properly. So, even for meeting the basic health problems, AYUSH system has failed miserably. AYUSH should not be blamed as it is not medical science but paramedical wellness based practice.
In the light of the above truth, why are we wasting our resource from the public exchequer to keep producing more and more AYUSH vaidyas? Instead, should we not produce more MBBS graduates?
The expense that we incur for AYUSH in that sense is wasteful expense. If we divert this wasteful expense, can’t we solve the shortage of allopathic doctors in rural India?
If Government desires, it can clearly instruct all medical colleges in India (both Government and Private) to increase the number of seats by 20% with the fee structure similar to that of Government Medical Colleges and reserve the 20% seats exclusively for students from Bihar, UP and other states that face acute shortage of allopathic doctors.
Do not ask the poor villager to compete with students from elite community. Make simple competency test for students from rural India and admit them in the medical colleges.
Just check their aptitude, interest and understanding capability. Check their financial background also. Let the poor students from the rural India from states that face acute shortage of allopathic doctors join these medical colleges, become doctors and then serve their villages.
If we catalyze the above reform process today, in 10 years from now, we will have sufficient and surplus allopathic doctors for entire India.
If we bring the above reform judiciously and genuinely we need not have to complain over the shortage of allopathic doctors in rural India.
Instead of the above, we are promoting the paramedical AYUSH as medical science and allowing the system to make all incredible medical claims and creating qualms and quackery.
Is there any logic or rationale in promoting AYUSH as medical system and wasting our resources? Building AYUSH institution equivalent to AIIMS in physical form may be possible but can it assure any worthwhile output to address our health care problems?
The allopathic science is ever growing and ever expanding. Hence any research findings come from AYUSH will be viewed and scrutinized only with allopathic system as bench mark or reference.
In that sense, the recent invention of 5 rupee diabetes drug developed by NBRI and CIMAP for adjuvant benefit is not just 5 rupee but it adds 5 more rupees to the existing treatment as it is to be used along with the existing diabetes drugs.
We need main line therapy and not just adjuvant therapy. We need to first justify why we need adjuvant therapy and why Government should spent money from its exchequer on research for some products that would serve mere adjuvant value?
We need to re-promote ISM as paramedical wellness practice.
Legalizing cross pathy and creating opportunity for back door entry for AYUSH graduates to practice allopathy in the name of meeting shortage of allopathic doctors in rural India will only compound and complicate our medical problems.
The need of the hour is reservation in MBBS course for rural people from states that suffer acute shortage of allopathic doctors.
Another method for finding more resource to meet the above challenge is that Government should stop recruiting ISM vaidyas in Government sector like PHC’s, CHC’s etc. Instead we should ‘creatively use’ AYUSH vaidyas for creating rural health care awareness, rural hygiene, imparting knowledge on how to prevent various communicable and vector born diseases, the diets to be followed during different seasons etc. AYUSH wellness centres must be opened to utilize the services of AYUSH vaidyas.
The resource allocated for ISM vaidyas in PHC’s, CHC’s etc., can be used to double the remuneration of allopathic doctors in rural service and to improve the rural infrastructure and medical facilities.
AYUSH wellness centres shall be dedicated for AYUSH vaidyas and all clinics and hospitals for allopathic doctors.
We must create clear distinction between institutionally qualified AYUSH vaidyas and qualified doctors (MBBS graduates) so that the innocent, uneducated, poor people in rural India will not easily fall victim to qualms and quackery.
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