The government proposes to attach a medical college to a district hospital under the public-private partnership (PPP) model to address shortage of qualified doctors, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her Budget speech on Saturday.

“There is a shortage of qualified medical doctors both general practitioners and specialists; it is proposed to attach a medical college to a district hospital in PPP mode; details of the scheme to be worked out soon,” she said.

India faces a massive shortage of doctors. Last year, the government had estimated that the country has only one doctor for every 1,457 people as per the country’s current population estimate of 1.35 billion, which is lower than the World Health Organisation (WHO) norm of 1:1000.

Sitharaman said priority would be given to aspirational districts that lack hospitals empanelled under the government’s flagship health insurance programme Ayushman Bharat.

“Viability gap funding window to be set up to cover hospitals, with priority given to aspirational districts that don’t have hospitals empanelled under Ayushman Bharat scheme,” she said.

Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (AB-PMJAY) billed as the world’s largest public health insurance scheme was launched in Ranchi in September 2018 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who called a “game changer”.

But many opposition-ruled states have not adopted the Ayushman Bharat scheme and have instead chosen to implement their own versions of health insurance.

In her Budget speech, Sitharaman proposed using taxes on medical devices to build hospitals.

“Proceeds from taxes on medical devices would be used to support setting up of hospitals,” she said.

Sitharaman also proposed to expand Jan Aushadhi Kendras in all districts of country to provide medicines at affordable rates.