NEW DELHI: The Niti Aayog has proposed a series of tough measures, including higher taxes on tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy foods such as soda and sugar-sweetened beverages, increased public health spending and creation of public health and management cadre in states to revamp the country's public and preventive health system Underlining the severe shortage of doctors, nurses and paramedics, it also called for major reforms in regulation of medical education and suggested measures to raise the number of doctors, mainly specialists and super-specialists. In its strategy document for New India @75, Niti Aayog primarily deliberated on three areas related to health - Public Health Management and Action, Comprehensive Primary Health Care and Human Resources for Health.Setting goals for the government to revamp the health care scenario, the document suggested achieving a doctorpopulation ratio of at least 1:1,400 against the WHO norm of 1:1,000 and nurse population ratio of at least 1:500 by 2022-23. It also proposed generating at least 1.5 million jobs in the public health sector by 2022-23, a large number of which will employ women. The Aayog suggested linking 40% district hospitals with medical colleges and creating pathways for training of doctors in specialities and super-specialities at private hospitals to address the shortage of specialists in the country. It suggested similar steps to revamp the regulatory system in nursing, dentistry and pharmacy education.It suggested incentivising state governments to invest in creating a dedicated cadre for public health at the state, district and block levels and including Ayush into the mainstream. Underlining the role of preventable measures, the document said preventable risks such as malnutrition, air pollution and dietary risks were the biggest contributors to disease burden in India."Public health action and management is a scientific and professional endeavour which should not be left to untrained employees relying on common sense alone," it said.