That should help to solve Singapore's problem of doctors shortage. 
http://www.zeenews.com/news614955.html
India's 'half-baked doctor' scheme applauded
Updated on Monday, March 29, 2010, 17:28 IST
Singapore: If the Indian government's scheme to produce more doctors through a three-and-a-half year degree course breaks down the urban-rural health disparities in a meaningful way, it will succeed where China's 'barefoot doctors' have failed, a study released here said on Monday.
The scheme, qualifying rural doctors through three-and- a-half year degree course, is loosely based on the Chinese barefoot doctor scheme which provided intensive medical training to rural doctors, noted the report "Side effect: Challenges facing healthcare in Asia".
Though the Indian Medical Association, oppositionists and Parliamentarians have criticised the scheme, the Indian government insists that the 147,000 doctors foreseen under the scheme would revolutionise rural care, noted the report by Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
It lauded the government's determination to qualify bachelor of rural medicine and surgery in three-and-a-half years instead of the five years, and also noted the success of over 450,000 local Village Health Sanitation Committees, and the training and deployment of the 520,000 Accredited Social Health Activists.
If the scheme, it said, succeeds in breaking down the urban-rural health disparities in a meaningful way, it will succeed where the Chinese government's 'barefoot doctors' failed.
It also highlighted the challenges of maintaining trained medical personnel, who have the tendency to move abroad for higher remuneration.
Over 50,000 Indian physicians in the United States mean that Americans have more Indian doctors per person than rural Indians do, said the report, released on the eve of a conference on "Healthcare in Asia" scheduled 30-31 March 2010.
Citing the World Health Organisation's data, the report said India had 0.6 doctor per 1,000 in 2004.
A number of world class medical facilities have sprung up in India's biggest cities in the past two decades, but the hospitals elsewhere in the country are overcrowded and understaffed.
Over 80 per cent of the healthcare spending in India is out-of-pocket while only one-tenth of the population has health insurance, and spending on healthcare is a major cause of indebtedness, it said.gl
http://www.zeenews.com/news614955.html
India's 'half-baked doctor' scheme applauded
Updated on Monday, March 29, 2010, 17:28 IST
Singapore: If the Indian government's scheme to produce more doctors through a three-and-a-half year degree course breaks down the urban-rural health disparities in a meaningful way, it will succeed where China's 'barefoot doctors' have failed, a study released here said on Monday.
The scheme, qualifying rural doctors through three-and- a-half year degree course, is loosely based on the Chinese barefoot doctor scheme which provided intensive medical training to rural doctors, noted the report "Side effect: Challenges facing healthcare in Asia".
Though the Indian Medical Association, oppositionists and Parliamentarians have criticised the scheme, the Indian government insists that the 147,000 doctors foreseen under the scheme would revolutionise rural care, noted the report by Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
It lauded the government's determination to qualify bachelor of rural medicine and surgery in three-and-a-half years instead of the five years, and also noted the success of over 450,000 local Village Health Sanitation Committees, and the training and deployment of the 520,000 Accredited Social Health Activists.
If the scheme, it said, succeeds in breaking down the urban-rural health disparities in a meaningful way, it will succeed where the Chinese government's 'barefoot doctors' failed.
It also highlighted the challenges of maintaining trained medical personnel, who have the tendency to move abroad for higher remuneration.
Over 50,000 Indian physicians in the United States mean that Americans have more Indian doctors per person than rural Indians do, said the report, released on the eve of a conference on "Healthcare in Asia" scheduled 30-31 March 2010.
Citing the World Health Organisation's data, the report said India had 0.6 doctor per 1,000 in 2004.
A number of world class medical facilities have sprung up in India's biggest cities in the past two decades, but the hospitals elsewhere in the country are overcrowded and understaffed.
Over 80 per cent of the healthcare spending in India is out-of-pocket while only one-tenth of the population has health insurance, and spending on healthcare is a major cause of indebtedness, it said.gl
