1.

Context:

Availability of human resource is considered as a critical factor for effective provision

and delivery of quality health care to India's vast population. It is an important
determinant of the health status of any nation, i.e. human resources drive health outputs
and outcomes, including immunisation levels, outreach of primary care, and, infant, child
and maternal survival. However, even with the recognition of the importance of health
workforce for accessing better health care, their current availability in India provides a
dismal picture. As per a study conducted by National Sample Survey Office (NSSO)
periodic labour force survey (2017-18), the density of health workforce in India per
10,000 population is just 16.7 (6.1 doctors and 10.6 nurses), which dose not meet the
absolute minimum WHO threshold of 23 health workers per 10,000 population

The projected skilled health workforce numbers will rise from 1.77 million to 2.65
million in 2030. Yet, India will be short of 1.1 million health workers in 2030 to reach
even the threshold of 25 health workers per 10,000.

Among the major states, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra
and Uttar Pradesh are way behind others in government doctors-to-population ratio. The
shortfall of nurses is highest in Bihar, Jharkhand, Sikkim, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and
Uttarakhand. There is also a significant shortage of all categories of health workforce in
government health facilities. Seats in medical colleges are highly skewed across states,
with two-thirds of all MBBS seats in the country concentrated in seven states (Tamil
Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat)

Role of Private Sector in Medical Education:

India has witnessed a rapid growth in the medical education sector—one of the largest in
the world. Starting with 28 teaching institutions at the under graduate level in 1950, we
have reached a total Of 542 colleges in 2020 with a total intake capacity of about 80,312
medical students. Traditionally, medical colleges in India were largely funded by the
government and the contribution of private sector was negligible. But with the
implementation of new economic policy of 1991, broadly known as structural adjustment
programme (SAP), the trend shifted towards private funding of medical education and the
growth of private medical colleges has been phenomenal. The number of medical
colleges in the country has increased by around 45 per cent in the last six years. In 2014,
the number of medical colleges in the country was 381. The number of medical seats has
increased from 54,348 in 2014 to 80,312 in 2020. Thus, the growth of medical
institutions and their intake capacity in India has been driven largely by developments in
the private sector and in some states it grew to such a level that in relative size, the public
sector became infinitesimally small.

2. Need :