NEW DELHI, June 16 (Xinhua) -- Seventy years into its independence and India has not yet been able to fully provide basic healthcare to its citizens. Take a tour of any rural area and neglect in terms of primary healthcare centers even for a cluster of villages is hard to miss.
India has over 400 medical schools that produce thousands of doctors annually. However, recent surveys have found the country has roughly 12 doctors, nurses and midwives for every 10,000 people. And there are no specialists or surgeons available either in these centers.
This reality co-exists with another -- the presence of over a million quacks or unqualified doctors in India. A recent study by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has found the staggering number of such doctors after reports of patients dying unnaturally in rural areas.
While doctors blame the government for such a large number of quacks in this country, the latter want medical authorities to allow them conventional medicine after taking bridge courses to fill in the gap for the need of qualified professionals in the rural areas.
"There is no way these quacks should be allowed to play with the lives of poor people just by taking bridging courses," says A.K. Aggarwal, a Delhi-based cardiologist.
Some doctors believe if the government wants to overhaul medical governance, proper measures will have to be taken especially in rural areas.
"The astounding number of quacks in India reflects the failure of the state itself to take healthcare to its citizens. Go to rural areas and you will find that people have to travel miles to even get basic health attention. This has created the space for quacks," said Madhur Jain, who recently joined India's private healthcare sector after spending 20 years in the United States.
"Quacks are nothing but those who failed sciences in schools or learned giving injections or some basic medicines by observing doctors. They become gods in such rural, backward areas," Dr. Jain added.
Some healthcare activists even blame quacks for the rising maternal and infant mortality in rural India.
"India should hang its head in shame when it comes to maternal healthcare. We hear reports everyday of women delivering in public transports because there is no doctor available in their areas. Earlier, women used to deliver at home in the presence of a mid-wife. Now people want doctors but there are none," said Sudha Verma, a healthcare worker.
"Maternal and infant mortality is touching new heights in the country also because of quacks who have no experience in delivering babies safely," she added.
However, unlicensed doctors in both rural and urban areas feel that they are equally qualified as other doctors because patients turn to alternative medicines in large numbers where other measures are not available.
They cited the fact that about 57 percent of Indian doctors fall in the category of alternative medicine providers and with some basic, state-funded training, they will be able to fill in the gap of doctors' shortage in the country.
"A refresher course once in every six months that the government could host for us will be good not only for our employment but also people in village who have no access to doctors," said one such self-proclaimed doctor who practices in Greater Noida, just 50 km from Delhi.
"It is the government's duty to train us and also to provide health benefits to the poor people. That is why we are demanding from the government rather than shutting our shop," he added.
Many others in his fraternity have also echoed similar voices.
"There are many reasons why I could not get my MBBS degree. I was one of six sons at home and there was no money. What I learned about medicine was from the time I spent as an employee with a local doctor in my district," said Rishiraj Singh, another such quack who practices at a slum in Delhi.
"When I came back to my village, I started my own clinic. I think the government should provide us some basic training so that we can continue to operate."
