Medical Colleges Increasing In India When Medical Seats Are Not, Activists Baffled

The government on Wednesday gave nod to the setting up of 75 government medical colleges attached with existing district/referral hospitals by 2021-22.

The colleges will be set up under the Phase-III of the ongoing Central scheme in the areas with poor medical care. The move will add 15700 more MBBS seats in India.

While the government is setting up new medical colleges and claiming to increase the number of seats, the on-ground situation tells a different tale.

The government had earlier approved 58 medical colleges under the first phase to be set up in 2018 and 24 new medical colleges to be set up by 2021-22.

As per a Times of India report the 39 medical colleges under Phase-I have already started functioning, while the remaining 19 would be functional by 2020-21.

Medical Colleges Vs Seats

According to RTI report published by India Today, only 920 MBBS seats were added as of February 2019 in the past five years, against the 10,000 claimed by the government.

This skewed ratio of the number of medical colleges versus the number of seats, begs the question- why are there not enough seats despite the growing number of colleges?

The RTI activist Chandrashekhar Gaur revealed that in states such as Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan only 50 new MBBS seats were added instead of the approved 150 and 350 seats respectively.

While in states like Jharkhand, MP, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, and Manipur, not a single seat has been added. On the other hand, Punjab (100 seats), Odisha (200 seats), and Gujarat (170 seats) upgraded their medical colleges and increased the number of MBBS seats.

Skewed Doctor-Patient Ratio

The RTI revelations counter the government’s claim and raise questions on the completion of the target by 2021-22. As per the WHO guidelines, one doctor for 600 people is the ideal ratio. In India, there is one government allopathic doctor for every 11,528 people.

No Research

Apart from the skewed doctor-patient ratio, what is even more worrisome is the lack of specialised doctors and the lack of research in the field of medicine.

For the past 10 years, 332 out of the 576 medical teaching institutions have not produced a single research paper, reported Indiatimes.

Only a few medical colleges such as AIIMS, New Delhi, PGI, Chandigarh, CMC, Vellore and SGIMS, Lucknow have produced research that is published in the international peer-review journals.

Almost every third doctor leaves India every year for residency training and/or practice abroad. If the problem of not producing quality doctors is not addressed, there can be worldwide consequences.

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