Urology in India: Current state and future growth
Urology is a part of health care that deals with diseases of the male and female urinary tract (kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra). It also deals with the male organs that are able to make babies (penis, testes, scrotum, prostate, etc.). Since health problems in these body parts can happen to everyone, urologic health is important. Urology in India, services are concentrated in cities. However, unlike the USA or Europe, many Indian urologists go to nearby cities to provide basic urology services such as transurethral resection of the prostate, transurethral resection of bladder tumor, ureteroscopy, percutaneous nephrolithotripsy, optical internal urethrotomy, and basic surgeries such as nephrectomy, pyeloplasty, and even urethroplasty and are labeled “roaming urologists.”
They carry their own equipment to perform these procedures usually in a local hospital run by general surgeons. This is quite similar to the services provided by surgical teams that travel from developed nations to underdeveloped parts of the world where they provide surgical services (as to charity or training purposes) and then return to their home country. In India, “roaming urologists,” who are board-certified, provide services in areas where hospitals exist but urologists are lacking, and thus fulfilling an important national requirement.
Urology has various sub-specialties, such as pediatric urology (related to urological problems in children), andrology (related to the male reproductive system), endourology (which deals with minimally invasive or closed surgical procedures), neurourology (related to the nervous system), among others.
In 2015, the Government of India reclassified cities into three categories: X, Y, and Z. There are 11 cities classified as X (including Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, etc.,) and 88 classified as Y (including Lucknow, Agra, Bhopal, Jaipur, etc.). Urology in India is concentrated in category X and Y cities. All places with a municipality, corporation, cantonment board, or notified town area committee are classified as statutory towns. According to the 2011 census, there are 4041 statutory towns in India.
