India needs seven lakh doctors: MCI

Updated on: Saturday, January 08, 2011

India would require at least seven lakh doctors to fulfil its requirements in the health sector, the Medical Council of India (MCI) said today.

"We have prepared a vision 2015 document which has an assessment of how many doctors will we need," MCI chief S K Sarin said during the inaugural session of the 66th Association of Physicians of India Conference (APICON) here.
"We assessed that the country needs about seven lakh doctors. Even if we increase our current intake from current 35,000 to 50,000 it will be 2031 when we will be able to meet the target. We can't wait that long," he said.

"We have now increased post graduate (PG) seats from 9000 to 20,000 and every year they will increase. Our aim is of cylindrical growth where PG seats are equal to under graduate (UG) seats in the country," Sarin said.

He said MCI had received 76 applications for new medical colleges this year as against 19 last year.

The MCI chief said they were also working on reforms in accreditation rules and are likely to come up with a draft in a month

India needs seven lakh doctors: MCI

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