Tamil Nadu leads in medical education in India

WHO and even World Bank records state that the ratio was 1.26 in 1991 from where it gradually reduced to 0.546 in 2000, 0.599 in 2005, 0.69 in 2010, 0.743 in 2011 and finally 0.702 in 2012 the years for which figures were available. 

But senior health department officials in Chennai said that “The situation was better in Tamil Nadu which had 20 medical colleges, the highest number in the country, and another three being in the pipeline.” 

While Tamil Nadu’s progress in medical education and services is encouraging, information revealed recently by the 300 pages National Health Profile (provisional) 2015, collected and collated by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI) shows that more needs to be done in this area, if, India is to progress on this front.

The data, gathered by FSU (field service units) in Bengaluru, Bhopal, Jaipur, Bhubaneswar, Lucknow and Patna, reveals that the nation has a predominance of allopathic doctors, who number 9.40 lakhs. Followed by this, there 7.37 lakhs AYUSH (Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) doctors. Of the total 7.37 lakhs, more than half of them belonged to Ayurvedic medicine, it was revealed. 

India has 398 medical colleges which admitted 46,456 students in 2014-15, followed by another 26, 240 admissions in 305 dental colleges and another 5,505 admissions in 224 PG dental courses. While the per capita expenditure on health increased from Rs 620 in 2009-10 to Rs 890 in 2012-13, the Centre-State expenditure ratio stood at 33:67 with the former’s share declining over the years. 

As regards health infrastructure the country has 20,306 hospitals with 6,75,779 beds. Though the survey states that 70% population are rural based, it is not seen in the hospital bed strength which is lopsided with 16,816 hospitals having 1,83,602 beds being located in rural areas as against 3,490 hospitals with 4,92,177 beds in urban areas. 

But the nation was unable to achieve the MDG (Millennium Development Goals) in both IMR (Infant Mortality Rate) and MMR (Maternal Mortality Rate). Though IMR was reduced by 50 % to reach 42 deaths per 1000 live births in 1990-2012, it was nowhere near the MDG IMR of 27. Similarly, MMR of 437 per one lakh live births in 1990 will only touch 140 by 2015 and not the MDG anticipated 109. 

But HIV/AIDS prevalence is worrying for Tamil Nadu which ranks second in the country among those living on ART (anti- retroviral therapy). Of the 467 ART centres in India which treated 8,38,796 persons, Tamil Nadu treated 85, 155 persons through 52 ART centres while Maharashtra ranked first with 83 ART centres ensuring that 1, 85, 085 were living through this therapy. 

Of the 1,05,22,127 persons tested for AIDS/HIV, 1,52,099 (9%) turned out to be positive. While Andhra Pradesh recorded the highest number of those testing positive (34, 987/ 2.58%) of the 13, 55, 425 who were tested, 0.61 % (10,861) of the 17, 81, 705 who were tested in Tamil Nadu were also positive for this dreaded infection.