Nationwide survey shows 44 top Indian cities below global median of doctors

August 3, 2013

The IMS Health Physician and Chemist survey on the state of healthcare in the country disclosed that 44 of the top 120 Indian (metro and non-metro) cities are below the global median of 1.2 doctors per 1000 population, while 76 cities are above this benchmark. The survey points out that there is an alarmingly low doctor density in rural areas.

As per IMS Health Physician and Chemist survey:

Amongst the metro cities, the density of doctors to 1,000 population is more than double compared to the national average of 0.65.
Delhi has the highest density at 2.05 doctors due to the fact that it has the highest numbers of doctors in India(33,5000).
Mumbai has one of the lowest density of doctors, 1.52 per 1,000 population, due to the fact that it’s the most populous city.
Amongst states, Haryana has the highest doctor density.
Some cities are over-served by the healthcare system like cities of North India account for 31% of doctors in the country, but only 28% of the country’s population lives there.
As compared to this, east and south India have a considerably lower density of GPs (non-MBBS) compared to the Indian average.
When compared across the chemist population similar unevenness was found.
Around 42% of chemists in India are concentrated in the top nine most populated cities, and 29% of chemist sales are performed without any prescription.
37% of chemist outlets are attached to doctor clinics, polyclinics, hospital facilities, and nursing homes.