New Delhi: Vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu has said that the number of doctors in the country was grossly inadequate. 

He divulged the fact that while the number of physicians was 20 per 10,000 people in developed countries, it was only six in India. 

"The country needs 10.5 lakh doctors while we have only 6.5 lakh," he said.

Naidu inaugurated a medical camp and two skill development facilities, CCTV network management and optic fiber technician courses, and GATI drivers training institute at the Hyderabad chapter of Swarna Bharat Trust. Naidu launched skill development courses conducted in association with L&T Smart World Communications Limited.

Speaking on the occasion, he said the government's expenditure was not commensurate with the growing demands in healthcare as a result of which the private sector had come to play a dominant role in both urban and rural areas.

"In urban areas, only 32 per cent of the patients visit public hospitals while the rest 68 per cent prefer private hospitals. In rural areas, 42 per cent patients visit public hospitals and the rest visit private hospitals," the vice-president said providing figures.

Naidu said that in order to comply with the WHO norm of one doctor per 1,000, (there is one doctor per 1700 population in India), a high-level committee of NITI Aayog had recommended setting up of 187 more medical colleges by 2022. Similarly, the number of hospital beds per 10,000 is 40 in developed countries while it is nine in India.