BEHIND THE WHITE COAT WHAT'S MISSING WHEN TEXTBOOK KNOWLEDGE MEETS PATIENT CARE?

An exclusive interview with Joy Chakraborty, COO, Hinduja Hospital, uncovering the critical gaps in Indian medical education and solutions to prepare doctors for a tech-driven, patient-focused healthcare future.

- Nehal Gautam

India’s healthcare system stands at a crucial moment, navigating the challenges of serving 1.4 billion people, tackling a rising tide of complex diseases, and embracing technologies that are redefining patient care. At the heart of this system lies medical education, which shapes the doctors responsible for healing, innovating, and driving better health outcomes across the nation.

Despite significant progress in expanding access to medical training, the system struggles to equip graduates for the demands of a rapidly evolving, patient-focused, and technology-driven healthcare landscape. In an exclusive interview with Joy Chakraborty, Chief Operating Officer of Hinduja Hospital, Healthcare Radius delves into these pressing challenges and uncovers actionable solutions to prepare India's doctors for the future of medicine.

The numbers tell a compelling story. India’s approximately 700 medical colleges offering around 115,000 MBBS seats as of 2024, with an expectation of crossing 118,000 seats in 2025. This has pushed the doctor-to-population ratio to an estimated 1:800 as of 2025, surpassing the World Health Organization's (WHO) recommended 1:1000, based on trends in medical education expansion. But dig deeper, and the picture shifts. Rural areas, home to around 60% of Indians, rely on an estimated 25% of the nation’s doctors, leaving millions with limited care, according to trends in healthcare distribution studies.

Super-specialists are even scarcer. India has only 4,500 oncologists for 1.5 million new cancer cases annually (GLOBOCAN 2024) and around 600 geriatric specialists for a population where 10.5% is over 60, set to double by 2050 (UNFPA 2024). These shortages mean patients wait months for specialized care or depend on generalists for complex conditions, stretching hospitals thin.