India has over 19.47 lakh doctors: Government tells Lok Sabha

There were 7.88 lakh Ayurveda, Unani and homoeopathy (AUH) doctors in the country and assuming 80 percent availability, the number of doctors available for service would be around 6.30 lakh the minister said.

By: PTI

New Delhi | July 12, 2019 02:18 PM IST

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</p><amp-img src="https://data.indianexpress.com/election2019/track_1x1.jpg" alt="" width="1px" height="1px" style="display:none;"></amp-img> The Current doctor-population ratio of 1:1456 is lower than the WHO (World Health Organisation) norm of 1:1000, Health and Family welfare minister Harsh Vardhan said in Lok Sabha. (Representational Image)

The government Friday said there were more than 19.47 lakh allopathy, Ayurveda, Unani and homoeopathy doctors at the end of March this year.

Out of them, 11,59,309 allopathy doctors were registered with the State Medical Councils/ Medical Council of India.
“Assuming 80 per cent availability, it is estimated that around 9.27 lakh doctors may be actually available for active service.

“It gives a doctor-population ratio of 1:1456 per current population estimate of 1.35 billion, which is lower than the WHO (World Health Organisation) norm of 1:1000,” Minister of Health and Family Welfare Harsh Vardhan told the Lok Sabha.

He said there were 7.88 lakh Ayurveda, Unani and homoeopathy (AUH) doctors in the country and assuming 80 percent availability, the number of doctors available for service would be around 6.30 lakh.

“… considered together with allopathic doctors, it gives a doctor-population ratio of 1:867, which is better than the WHO norm,” the minister noted.

Together, there were a total of 19,47,309 doctors.

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