YOU WOULD find a doctor sooner in the deprived, famished parts of Zambia, Cameroon and Democratic Republic of Congo than in eastern Maharashtra's Gadchiroli. The district has 85 doctors for its 9.7 lakh people, or a doctor for 11,415 people. That's roughly a physician attending to a super-packed Sun day mall, just that the next pa- tient could be scores of kilome- tres away.

The ideal ratio, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), should be one for 250 people. In ru- ral areas, it is one in 450 people.

While even Mumbai, with one doctor for 656 people, does not meet the basic standard, recently released data from the Maharash tra Medical Council (MMC) on MBBS doctors registered in the state has revealed appalling doc tor-patient ratio in the districts. Gondia's ratio is one per 7,695 people, and Washim one for 6,376.

The cities - Mumbai, Thane, Nagpur, Pune and Nashik - have more doctors than all 28 districts put together. The cities taken together have 37,421 doctors, while the rest of the state has to make do with just 30,303.

There are 67,764 doctors registered under the MMC, confirmed registrar R.G. Janjal. Every doctor who wants to practice in the state has to register with the council. Some doctors who come from other states also practice here, mostly in cities, after regis tering with the respective state coun cil or Medical Council of India.

"There must be about 7,000 more doctors from other states practicing here. That makes it 75,000," said Prakash Doke, director general, health services, Maharashtra. "Earlier, we had estimated that there are at least one lakh doctors in the state, but the latest figures disprove that."

He admitted that the doctor-topatient ratio in the state, especially in the hinterland, was abysmal.

"Doctors refuse to work in these areas despite graduating from there."