Private clinics and doctors in India. The official numbers, with dates.

The Health Ministry told the Lok Sabha on 24 July 2026 that, as per the Indian Medical Register, there are 15,35,155 registered allopathic doctors and 7,51,768 registered practitioners in the AYUSH system of medicine. It repeated the same two figures in another Lok Sabha reply on 31 July 2026.

From those counts the Ministry estimates a doctor-population ratio of 1:778. The estimate assumes that 80% of registered practitioners in both the allopathic and AYUSH systems are available, so it counts AYUSH practitioners alongside MBBS doctors. As recently as 13 March 2026 the Ministry gave 13,88,185 allopathic doctors and a ratio of 1:811 with the same method; the July replies cite the Indian Medical Register as their source. The AYUSH figure has not changed between these replies.

No government source we found counts private clinics as such. The closest official measures are where patients go for outpatient treatment, from the National Sample Survey, and the facilities registered on the Health Facility Registry. Both are below.

We used only government documents: written answers in the Lok Sabha, publications of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, reports of the National Statistics Office under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, and PIB. We did not use vendor, consultancy or media estimates. Each figure carries the date the source gives, and we read every document on 26 October 2026.

Registered is not the same as practising. The doctor counts are entries on the registers; the Ministry's own ratio assumes only 80% are available, and it includes AYUSH practitioners. The jump from 13,88,185 in March 2026 to 15,35,155 in July 2026 coincides with the replies citing the Indian Medical Register; the Ministry did not explain the change in the replies we read.

The National Sample Survey is a household survey. The 2025 round covered 1,39,732 households between January and December 2025 and asked about ailments in the 15 days before the interview, so its shares describe treated spells of illness, not a count of clinics or visits. The two rounds group informal providers differently, which is why the table notes it. The MoSPI definition of a private clinic in both reports is a place for consultation with private doctors with no in-patient facility.

The public facility counts are government facilities reported by the states. The registry counts cover only facilities and professionals that registered. If a newer reply or edition is published, the newer figure replaces the one here and the date changes with it.