NEW DELHI – India could fill the shortage of doctors if all who work abroad could come back. The number of doctors who migrated abroad each year exceeds 1000. As per ministry reports for 1,700 people we have just one doctor. About 1,157 doctors have reportedly migrated abroad from April, 2010 to March, 2011 and between 2009 and 2010 the number of migrated doctors were noted to be 1,458.
Government considers the migration of doctors as a serious issue now. Doctors will have to return home now after finishing their studies abroad since they are asked to sign a bond with the government. It is estimated that around 60,000 Indian physicians are working in U.S., UK, Canada and Australia alone.
Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said, “Now, if a student does not come back from the U.S., he won’t be allowed to practice there,” as repoted by TOI.
“These are all doctors who asked the Medical Council of India (MCI) to issue them Good Standing Certificates (GSC) – a mandatory requirement for doctors going to work in hospitals abroad. GSCs give us a rough estimate of the doctors migrating to other countries. However, it does not reflect the absolute number. No centralized data is maintained for doctors and nurses migrating to other countries.” Azad said. The minister wants to make sure that each student who goes to U.S. for medicine is coming back after their studies.
As a result of government’s decision the U.S. has asked for a No objection Certificate (NoC) from each student registering with an American institute.
The counter arguments come from the former members of governing body of MCI right after government’s decision. As per the TOI report, a former MCI member said “The bond can’t work till the government can guarantee the students a good job worth their skills, once they return to India.”
