Doctor-Patient Ratio In Karnataka Among The Lowest In The Country

Even as Karnataka is yet to recover from the political ills that left the state in a limbo for weeks, the latest National Health Profile released by the Union Health Ministry reveals that its health situation isn’t any better.

As reported by the Deccan Herald, Karnataka with the lowest doctor-patient ratio in South India is one among the worst states in the country when it comes to availability of doctors in government clinics and hospitals. One government doctor caters to 13,556 people in Karnataka. This is way below the national average of 1:11,082.

And this number seems to be getting worse as the 2017 figure was 13,257.

And these government doctor numbers despite Karnataka being one of the three states with over one lakh registered doctors. Primary healthcare centres across the state have only 2,136 doctors.

The number of specialists at the community healthcare centres (CHCs) too is a dismal 498 with not a single specialist joining the CHC’s in the last one year.

Healthcare in India is under focus since Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced the Centre’s pet project of Ayushman Bharat to provide health cover to over 10 crore poorest families in the country. However, given the dismal condition of government hospitals, private sector will have to step in big time for the programme to be a success.