Telangana has more health workers than NITI Aayog’s numbers: TSMC

HYDERABAD: The Telangana State Medical Council (TSMC) and Directorate of Medical Education (DME) have objected to the NITI Aayog’s Sustainable Development Goals Index, which was released recently, stating that they have far more manpower than the report claimed. The SDG index puts Telangana’s overall health score at 67. While the State has indeed improved its performance in most aspects of health from 2019, in the indicator of doctors/nurses per 10,000 population, Telangana’s score was just 10. Countrywide, the average physician and nurse availability stands at 36, whereas the ideal sustainable goal is 45 per 10,000 and at least nine States have crossed the same.

 TSMC, however, disagrees. “We are shocked by the number projected in the report. The State has far more doctors than what the report claims and we ask the National Medical Council (NMC) to revise the numbers as per the latest records,” said Dr E Ravindra Reddy, Chairman, TSMC.

The Director of Medical Education Dr Ramesh Reddy, who is also overseeing operations of the various medical councils in the State, said that the confusion is likely to have occurred due to the reorganisation of the State and the NMC’s outdated Indian Medical Register (IMR), which shows only 7,933 doctors registered in the TSMC.

“Our conservative estimates suggest nearly 65,000 doctors are in Telangana. In 2014, when the State was reorganised, the AP Medical Council had 89,000  registered doctors. Nearly half of them had domicile in Telangana, specifically Hyderabad. In 2016, when the TSMC was constituted, 32,000 doctors registered with it. Another 16,000, belonging to MBBS batches from 2014-2021, also registered with the TSMC, at the rate of 6,000 students per year,” explained Dr Reddy.

This would make the availability of nearly 17 doctors per 10,000 population. According to the Nursing Council of Telangana, the State has 38,064 general nurses, 19,266 BSC nurses and 16,393 Auxiliary Nurse Midwives, he informed. This puts the total nurses at 73,723 — 18 nurses per 10,000 population.

“The agencies that came up with these rankings must consult the State before arriving at these numbers, especially in a pandemic tear. We were not consulted or asked to give our manpower details, in which we have are sufficient. We will submit to the State government, who will take it up with the Centre,” added Dr Reddy.