ASIA'S -DOCTOR SHORTAGE- CRISIS

DELHI is suffering from a shortage of physicians. Its public hospitals need 1,400 more doctors to provide adequate care for patients.

Right no, 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 people.

That's generally considered the bare minimum to ensure adequate to care. Thus far, India has not been able to reach 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 percent of community health centres, which serve patients living far from the 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 percent of the world's disease cases yet contains only 11 percent 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.

Asians 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 percent for men and 3.6 percent for women. The acceptance rates at two of Singapore's  major medical schools hover around 10 percent.

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 increase of just 135 students.

The honor and serving of the latest global operational research on critical services and shortages,  continues. The World Students Society thanks author Dr Richard Olds, president of St George's University.