Delhi is suffering from a shortage of physicians. Its public hospitals need 1,400 more doctors to provide adequate care for patients. Right now, many sick people must wait for treatment — or simply go without care.
This isn’t an anomaly. Most of Asia faces a doctor shortage. The supply of physicians hasn’t kept pace with the continent’s rapidly growing population. Asian medical schools just aren’t producing enough doctors.
Fortunately, there are plenty of high-caliber institutions outside Asia that are well-equipped to train the physicians that India and its neighbors need.
For years, Indians have suffered the consequences of a shortfall of physicians. In 2012, the Indian government announced that it would work towards bringing about a doctor for 1,000 speople. That’s generally considered the bare minimum to ensure adequate care. Thus far, India has not been able to reach its goal. Today, there’s a doctor for every 1,600 people.
Roughly, 2,000 primary healthcare facilities in India have no doctors. That means no one on staff is qualified to provide more than basic medical services. 80 per cent of community health centres, which serve patients living far from traditional hospitals, have no surgeons.
India is not alone. Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Thailand have also fallen short of delivering a doctor for every 1,000 patients. Southeast Asia accounts for roughly 30 per cent of the world’s disease cases yet contains only 11 per cent of the world’s physicians.
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Thailand have also fallen short of delivering one doctor for every thousand patients. Southeast Asia accounts for roughly 30 per cent of the world’s disease cases yet contains only 11 per cent of the world’s physicians
Even the densest, most developed, and wealthiest regions are short of qualified medical personnel. By 2030, Hong Kong will be about 1,000 physicians short. Singapore will need 6,000.
A medical-school bottleneck is driving these shortages. Asian medical schools receive far more applications than they have spaces. Scores of talented students find themselves on the wrong end of an admissions decision every year.
One prestigious medical school in New Delhi, for instance, has an acceptance rate of less than one-tenth of 1 per cent. The acceptance rate at Japan’s National Defence Medical College is just north of 5 per cent for men and 3.6 per cent for women. The acceptance rates at two of Singapore’s major medical schools hover around 10 per cent.
Some Asian medical schools are trying to grow to meet the continent’s demand for doctors. In Singapore, for example, the number of medical school spots grew 40 per cent between 2011 and 2017. But that represented an absolute increase of just 135 students.
Given the long odds for gaining admission to medical school in Asia, many talented students have decided to pursue their medical ambitions abroad, particularly at medical schools in the Caribbean and Europe.
More than 600 graduates of the school I lead, St George’s University in Grenada, hail from Asia. Our students generally begin their studies in the Caribbean and then complete their training in residencies at top teaching hospitals in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Additionally, a number of aspiring doctors from India have taken advantage of a joint degree programme that allows students to conduct the bulk of their medical studies at Northumbria University in the United Kingdom, with just one year at St George’s.
Doctors educated abroad should also be appealing to public officials working to address health disparities. Research from the United States shows that graduates of international medical schools are more likely to practice in areas where the need for doctors is the greatest – like rural or high-poverty communities.
The demands placed on Asia’s healthcare system will only grow in the years to come. The number of people over 65 throughout the continent will more than double by mid-century. Without an influx of physicians, the shortage will increase and patient health will suffer.
Aspiring Asian doctors can help address this crisis by earning their medical degrees abroad — and then returning home to serve their communities.
The writer is president of St George’s University