| This WHO survey provides international statistics on medical manpower and its utilization, and hospitals and their utilization. These data are of interest to health economists since hospital treatment of disease is a heavy consumer of manpower resources everywhere. International comparison is rendered difficult by the different terminologies particular to each country. To overcome this problem, a list of terms used by various countries for different grades of auxiliaries (described according to type and length of education)has been drawn up. It is noted that where medical assistants are employed, they are generally still scarce and in many cases represent only a fraction of the number of physicians, whose scarcity is already well known. Tables illustrate population per physician and medical assistant per physician ratios in selected African, American, Asian, European, and Oceanian countries. |