Rural healthcare ailing

Doctors must compulsorily serve in villages

EVEN as 70 per cent of our population lives in villages, rural India has little to offer to its residents by way of healthcare. The folks are forced to travel to hospitals in cities or expensive private practitioners as most village health centres and dispensaries suffer from acute shortage of doctors. Compounding the malaise is the irregular supply of medicines for even common ailments. Often, the visit to the specialist doctor in the city comes late, at a grave cost to their health. Timely care provided to a patient on his doorstep holds the key to a better, practicable and more effective treatment.