80 per cent of doctors located in urban India

New Delhi: Nearly 75 per cent of dispensaries, 60 per cent of hospitals and 80 per cent of doctors are located in urban areas, serving only 28 per cent of the Indian populace, says a new report released by KPMG and the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI).

"Healthcare sector needs to establish its base in sub-urban and rural places as well," Minister of State for Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh said.

The survey was released at the Fifth Healthcare Access Summit - act on NCDs organised by OPPI and supported by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers here on Friday.

Speaking at the event Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for Prime Minister's Office and Development of North Eastern Region, pointed out at the mismatch in rural and urban areas in the healthcare sector.

"India has got world class private healthcare sector and only one-third of the population can access this. There is a huge mismatch which needs to covered. Healthcare sector needs to establish its base in sub-urban and rural places as well," Singh said.

The report also pointed out that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) account for nearly 60 per cent of deaths in India annually and the country is estimated to lose $4.58 trillion by 2030 due to them.

"Awareness about NCDs needs to be created among people living in rural areas and not just cities to reduce the growing percentage. Changes in lifestyle is a major reason, physical activities have gone down and therefore healthy routine should be adopted," Singh emphasised.

NCDs like diabetes, cardio-vascular diseases, chronic lung diseases and cancer are not just restricted to urban but gradually spreading to rural, north and northeastern parts of the country.

"NCD like diabetes is a genetic disease which is usually transmitted to offsprings from parents and therefore putting a stop from generation to generation transfer of the disease is important. Regular checkups is must for offsprings with diabetic parents and vaccinations at early age is also necessary," said Arun Panda, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare at the event.

Panda also mentioned that the government is taking steps by spreading awareness through radio jingles, television and print advertisements.

"In line with WHO's Global action plan for the prevention and control of ncds 2013-2020, India is one of the first countries to develop specific national targets and indicators aimed at reducing the number of global premature deaths from ncds by 25 per cent by 2025," Panda stated.

The report further cited some poor healthcare indices for India like the life expectancy rate (68 years in 2015) which is amongst the lowest in BRIC nations.

In rural India, only 37 per cent of people have access to In-Patient Department (IPD) facilities within a 5 km distance and only 68 per cent have access to an Out-Patient Department (OPD). India also has the lowest number of physicians per 10,000 population among BRIC countries, the report revealed.

PTI

Government doctors meet FM for resolving pay anomalies of 7th Pay Commission report

New Delhi: Government doctors have met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and urged to him to resolve their pay anomalies before implementing the 7th Pay Commission report.

Government doctors met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday for removal of pay anomalies of the 7th Pay Commission report.

Representatives of the Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) and JACSDO (Joint Action Council of Service Doctor Organisation) met Jaitley on Monday and put forward their demands saying, the report is "discriminating to doctors".

"The Minister listened to our issues patiently and attentively. He was appraised especially for NPA issue. He showed his concern about our salary being relatively reduced by 7th CPC.

"He assured us that our representation is being directed to Secretary Expenditure for re-evaluation. He also assured, if any concern still remains pending in the matter of NPA (and other issues), it shall be scrutinised and considered by forthcoming 'Anomalies Committee' which shall be appointed hereafter," said FORDA in a statement issued on Tuesday.

FORDA and JACSDO have strongly been opposing the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission and have written to the Prime Minister and Health Minister.

"When the 7th CPC was constituted we doctors were very hopeful that our demands will be looked after, which is increasing Non-Practising Allowance (NPA) to 40 per cent from existent 25 per cent, instead it has been reduced to 20 per cent.

"The basic pay and NPA were merged together while calculating House Rental Allowance (HRA) earlier, but this has now been omitted and HRA will be calculated only with basic pay resulting in less than the desired salary," said FORDA President Dr Pankaj Solanki.

The doctor's body also demanded uniform pay scales, night shift allowances which currently exists for nursing staff in government hospitals and the formulation of a uniform central residency scheme for the resident doctors of India.

FORDA is an umbrella organisation of 15,000 resident doctors across 41 government hospitals in the capital.

JACSDO represents 11 organised and unorganised Central Health Services (CHS), Indian Railway Medical Services (IRMS), Indian Ordinance Health Services (IOHS), MCD, NDMC, Delhi administration and ESIC.

Inputs with PTI

Cabinet okays raising retirement age of Central Health Service doctors to 65

New Delhi: To retain the talent pool of health specialists in Central Health Service (CHS), the Cabinet today gave its nod to raise the superannuation age of doctors from the present 62 to 65 years, a move which will help in effective implementation of national health programmes.

The Union Cabinet today approved a proposal to raise the retirement age of Central Health Service doctors to 65.

Besides, it will help improve patient care and academic activities, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.

There are about 4,000 doctors under Central Health Service, according to the Health Ministry.

"The Union Cabinet has given its approval for enhancement of the age of superannuation of non-teaching and public health specialists of CHS from 62 years to 65 years and doctors of General Duty Medical Officers (GDMOs) sub-cadre of CHS to 65 years," an official statement said.

However, the government said this move would not have any financial implication as the vacant posts had to be filled up quickly to ensure continuity of patient care.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier said the central government had decided to enhance superannuation age of all doctors in Central Health Service to 65 years with effect from May 31, 2016.

Citing shortage of doctors, Modi had at a rally in Saharanpur on May 26 announced raising the retirement age.

"The target group would be officers of non-teaching, public health and GDMO sub-cadres of CHS. The decision would help in better patient care, proper academic activities in Medical colleges as also in effective implementation of national health programmes for delivery of health care services," the statement said.

The age of superannuation in respect of all four sub-cadres of CHS -- teaching, non-teaching, public health and GDMO -- was 60 years prior to 2006.

The age of superannuation of the three specialists sub-cadres -- teaching, non-teaching and public health) -- was enhanced in 2006 from 60 to 62 years.

The age of superannuation of teaching sub-cadre was further enhanced from 62 to 65 years with the approval of the Cabinet in June, 2008 in view of huge shortfall of teaching specialists.

However, it was limited to teaching specialists and not those occupying administrative positions, the statement said.

 

PTI

PM gives nod to extend doctors’ retirement age to 65-years

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday approved the proposal of extending the retirement age of all doctors of the Central Health Service to 65 years.

Picture for representational purpose only.

The proposal made by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will be effective from May 31, 2016.

This will enable the Government to retain experienced doctors for a longer period, and to provide better services in its public health facilities, particularly to the poorest, who are entirely dependent on public facilities.

Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare J P Nadda stated that this step will empower the Government to strengthen the healthcare sector in the country.

"It will help in providing additional doctors in the health pool of the country," he said.

Nadda added that this will strengthen the efforts of the Ministry in conceptualising and rolling out various people-oriented schemes which l need the services of doctors in implementing them.

ANI

Government Doctors Retirement Age to be raised to 65 - Prime Minister

Saharanpur: Citing shortage of doctors, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today announced raising the age of retirement of government doctors to 65 years and said the Union Cabinet will give its nod to the decision this week.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today announced raising the age of retirement of government doctors to 65 years.

In a rally to observe the second anniversary of his government, Modi said there is a need for more doctors across the country but it was not possible to fill the gap in two years of his government.

The decision will cover all government doctors whether serving under states or the central dispensation, he said.

“There is a shortage of doctors. In government hospitals, their retirement is 60 years in some states, 62 in some others. If adequate number of medical institutes were there, then we would have more doctors and would not feel the shortage. It is difficult to make doctors in two years but poor families cannot be forced to live without doctors.

“Therefore from Uttar Pradesh, I want to announce this to my countrymen that this week our government’s Cabinet will take a decision and the retirement age of our doctors, whether in states or government of India, would be made 65 years instead of 60 or 62,” he said.

It will allow doctors to serve patients and provide education for a longer period, he said, adding that his government is also working fast to have more medical colleges to have more doctors in the field.

Modi’s announcement came after he appealed to doctors to serve poor pregnant women for free on each ninth day of every month, saying it will contribute to his government’s efforts to deal with illness among the poor.

If one crore families can give up on LPG subsidy, then Modi said he is sure that doctors can serve poor expectant women for 12 days in a year, he said.

PTI