By Prashant K Nanda
New Delhi, Jan 3 (IANS) Nearly 25,000 British doctors of Indian origin are set to return to India within two to four years and some of them are "most likely to join the seven AIIMS-like institutions" proposed to be set up by the central government.
"There are around 15,000 young Indian-origin doctors undergoing training in different parts of Britain who will return to India," Ramesh Mehta, president of the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, told IANS.
"Also, at least 10,000 senior doctors of Indian origin who are retiring from their jobs in the UK, are set to return to India," said the doctor, currently on an Indian tour.
He said they have already talked to the Indian health ministry and have got a favourable response. "The government has allowed us to come back and practise."
He said the ministry told the association that there will be a problem in finding quality doctors to man the seven new medical colleges modelled after the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
"We believe that these young doctors who are undergoing training in the UK currently, can be of great help in the new AIIMS-like institutes," he said.
The central government has given a go ahead to seven AIIMS-type medical institutions in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Each of these institutes will come up with a cost of Rs.300 crore (Rs.3 billion).
Each new institution would have an 850-bed hospital, including superspecialty facilities and 39 departments covering all major disciplines of medicine. The medical colleges will also have the provision to take in 100 undergraduate students each per year as well as facilities for imparting Post Graduate and doctoral courses in various disciplines.
Mehta also said the Indian government's plan to start a three-and-a-half-year rural medical course can benefit from these British doctors. "We are ready to play a part in training doctors whom government will post in rural areas."
The health ministry and the Medical Council of India (MCI) have proposed to start a rural medical course called Bachelor of Rural Medicine and Surgery (BRMS) in district hospitals. This will help doctors to get posted in rural areas and improve the healthcare delivery system at village level.