Can Pharmacy Doctors act as valuable assets in rural areas with a physician shortage?

The emerging burden of communicable and noncommunicable diseases has led to a shortage of primary care physicians in rural areas in both developed and developing countries.[1] Currently, according to the estimates provided by the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 57 countries are facing an alarming shortage of trained healthcare professionals.[2] Many Asian countries have the needed doctor‐patient ratio. For every 1000 patients, Japan has the doctor‐patient ratio of 2.1, South Korea has a ratio of 2, Singapore has a ratio of 1.8, and China has a ratio of 1.4.[1,3] On the other hand, India has a very low ratio of 0.69 for every 1000 people residing in its rural communities and a comparatively higher ratio of 1.33 for every 1000 people residing in its urban areas. For 70% of the Indian rural population, the patient‐physician ratio is extremely low and amounts to a mere 0.39 per 1000 people.[4] These numbers provide evidence of the chronic shortage of trained healthcare professionals such as physicians, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, etc., Nearly 50% of physicians in UK and 20% physicians in the US have procured their medicine degrees from India and yet India, itself will be able to achieve the patient‐physician ratio of 1 per 1000 people only in 2028, according to WHO report.[1] In 2011, an article published in Lancet stated that the current healthcare workforce, upon adjusting for qualification gaps, amounts to only a quarter of the WHO’s actual needed number.[4] Not only there is an uneven rural‐urban distribution of healthcare professionals, but also there is discrimination based on prestige among the healthcare professionals. Physicians often tend to undermine the contribution of other healthcare professionals such as physician assistants, nurses and pharmacists. On the November 14, 2013, the English daily newspaper reported that the Union Cabinet of India issued an approval allowing the creation and implementation of a 31⁄2 years course in state universities based on delivery of quality care in rural India. The course was named Bachelor of Rural Medicine and Surgery at first, then was named Bachelor of Rural Health Care and now is finally being named as Bachelor of Science in Community Health. This course will train the students in basic anatomy and physiology, and diagnosing and treating basic ailments.