Vice President praises NMC reform, says will bring inclusive growth in medical sector

Stating that the newly constituted National Medical Commission (NMC) is a step in right direction and hoped this Commission will provide for a medical education system that is inclusive, affordable, and ensures availability of adequate and high quality medical professionals in all parts of the country, he added.

Mysuru: Vice President Venkaiah Niadu here on Saturday stated that despite the progress made by the Nation in various fields and the advancements in modern medicine, it still face a huge shortage in the number of qualified medical practitioners.

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Delivering 10th Convocation of JSS Academy higher Education and Research, he said it has been estimated that India is facing a shortage of six lakh doctors and 20 lakh nurses. The National Health Profile 2018 says that there is just one allopathic government doctor available for around 11,082 people across the country-- more than 10 times the WHO recommended ratio of 1:10 There are around 71,000 MBBS seats in the 500-odd medical colleges, whereas we only have 32,000 postgraduate seats.

Stating that the newly constituted National Medical Commission (NMC) is a step in right direction and hoped this Commission will provide for a medical education system that is inclusive, affordable, and ensures availability of adequate and high quality medical professionals in all parts of the country, he added.

The Vice-President said that India is witnessing a troubling transition, from Communicable Diseases to Non-Communicable, lifestyle diseases (NCDs). A WHO report attributes nearly 61 per cent of deaths in India to non-communicable diseases. Studies shows that the contribution of cardiovascular diseases to mortality increased by 34·3 per cent from 1990 to 2016. During the same period, the age-standardized diabetes prevalence rose by 29·7 per cent in India.

Also, there was need to keep in mind that this data was largely based on self reporting by people. A Lancet study finds the NCDs are typically present in individuals aged 55 years or older in many developed countries, but their onset occurs in India a decade earlier at the age of about 45 years. This is mainly because of genetic predisposition, changing lifestyle and factors like pollution. Eating unhealthy food and leading a sedentary lifestyle were contributing to increase in NCDs.

"To counter this prevalence of Non Communicable Diseases, we must adopt a healthy lifestyle and good dietary habits and he felt that that there is a need to establish NCD clinics in both urban and rural areas and the private sector must play a prominent role in setting up such clinics," he said.

He called upon the doctors in both public and private sectors to visit the nearest schools in their localities and conduct awareness campaigns on the need to maintain healthy lifestyle

He said that India has achieved significant progress since Independence on various health indicators. With successive governments according high priority to health and the well being of the people, the average life expectancy has increased to 69 years and India’s disease burden due to communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases has dropped from 61 pc to 33 pc between 1990 and 2016. There are noteworthy improvements in health indicators relating to infant mortality rate (IMR) and maternal mortality rate (MMR) due to increasing penetration of healthcare services across the country, extensive health campaigns, sanitation drives, increase in the number of government and private hospitals in India, improved immunization and growing literacy, India’s health sector has a number of competitive advantages--, from a large pool of well-trained medical professionals to a flourishing Pharma industry which excels in generic drug manufacturing, to cost effective and quality medical procedures.

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"The cost of surgery in India is substantially less when compared to the US or Western Europe, which makes India a healthcare destination of choice. In spite of all these advancements, there is a long and arduous road ahead of us. Our health sector still grapples with inadequate public spend, low doctor-patient ratio, high share of out-of-pocket expenditure, inadequate infrastructure in rural areas, lack of penetration of health insurance and inadequate preventive mechanisms," he added. .

He said that India is blessed with a unique advantage—about 65 per cent of our population is below the age 35 years .The young population can contribute to nation-building only when it is motivated, adequately trained and skilled and most importantly when this population is healthy and fit and role of health professionals is very important. A nation with unhealthy population cannot progress. Encouraging the youth to take part in regular physical activities, encouraging them to learn and practice Yoga would entail better results, the Vice President said.