Friday, April 7 2006 18:05 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: There is a shortage of 4.3 million health workers in the world with India, Bangladesh and Indonesia experiencing the maximum shortfall in absolute terms, according to a new World Health Organisation report.

There are more than 59 million health workers in the world, found predominantly in richer areas where health needs are less severe, the report 'Working Together for Health', released here today (Apr 07, 2006), said.

"Their (health workers) numbers remain woefully insufficient to meet health needs, with the total shortage being in the order of 4.3 million workers," the report said.

"In absolute terms the greatest shortage occurs in South East Asia, dominated by the needs of Bangladesh, India and Indonesia," it said, adding the region has 2.1 health care providers (doctors, nurses and midwives) per 1000 population.

In all, 57 countries fall in the category of having critical shortage, 36 of them being in sub-Saharan Africa, it said and added making the shortfall through training required a significant investment.

"Assuming very rapid scaling up in which all the training is completed by 2015, the annual training costs range from a low of USD 1.6 million per country per year to almost USD two billion in a large country like India," it said.

Financing it would require health expenditures to increase by 2.80 dollar per person annually in the average country (the range is from 0.40 dollar to just over 11 dollars) - an increase of approximately 11 per cent on 2004 levels," it added.