The Government is taking steps to set up six new premier institutions on the pattern of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, in Delhi, with a view to bridge the gap between demand and supply of healthcare professionals in the country.

The locations of the new institutes, time-frame and other details are being worked out and there is also proposal to seek the help of private players to run some of these institutes that are coming up in the public sector, sources said.

The move is taken against the backdrop of projected shortfall of medical professionals in the coming years. At present, the country produces about 29000 medical graduates every year. However, it is expected that there will be a shortage of 45,000 doctors by 2012 and 350,000 nurses by 2015 for primary and secondary care alone. In total, around 50,000 doctors and one million trained nurses are required additionally by 2012. India will be looking to have over 7.5 million additional beds by 2015, according to estimates.

The new institutions would be modelled after the AIIMS, which is considered to be one of the best nurseries of doctors and medical researchers in the past.

"Setting up of six such institutions is a challenge, particularly to find and position appropriate faculty. These premier institutes will not only for medical research and education of high standards, but also will provide tertiary healthcare, particularly to the less privileged sections of the society,'' Union Health Ministry sources said.

There were also talks with the Indian industry to help setting up these institutions besides seeking collaborations especially for expertise from world-renowned institutes of countries like Britain. Medical training is being looked at as one of the key areas for public-Private Partnership, the latest buzzword in the health sector of India.

The shift in disease pattern from infectious diseases to lifestyle diseases, rapid technological innovations in health sciences and inability of training institutes to keep pace with the changes are considered as the reasons that contributed highly to widen the gap in specialized nursing care in the country.