A report prepared by Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) India shows a huge shortfall of 64.1 lakh allied health professionals with Uttar Pradesh accounting for the maximum shortage of over a million paramedics. The report shows a gap of 20.42 lakh dental assistance-related technologists, 18.22 lakh rehabilitation-related workforce, 8.93 lakh miscellaneous health workers and 8.58 lakh surgery and anaesthesia-related professionals. As per the report, there is a gap of around 2.36 lakh medical technologists, 1.98 lakh surgical and intervention technology-related health professionals, 1.28 lakh opthalmology-related workers, 61,670 medical laboratory professionals and over 19,217 radiography and imaging experts.

The report suggests increasing paramedic workforce by setting up allied health human resource institutes offering post-graduate and other shorter courses, besides seeking stricter regulation of such education through a separate over-arching body and making stricter norms to bring them on a par with world class.

Source: The Economic Times