Currently, under the National Medical Commission (NMC), there are 605 medical colleges (284 in the government and 269 in the private sector), bringing the total to 90,825 medical seats (43,310 in the government and 41,065 in the private sector).
The crisis in Ukraine has highlighted the lack of medical seats in the country and the prohibitive cost of tuition in private medical colleges, according to experts.
Currently, under the National Medical Commission (NMC), there are 605 medical colleges (284 in the government and 269 in the private sector), bringing the total to 90,825 medical seats (43,310 in the government and 41,065 in the private sector).
With just 3.7 lakh specialists, India needs to quadruple this number. There are only 17,000 postgraduate (PG) (MD/MS) seats available compared to 90,000 MBBS seats, hindering many medical graduates from pursuing PG.
XV Finance Commission Report (2020) also cites that there are 12,66,942 doctors in India. Since about 80 percent of them are actively practicing, this brings the number down to 10,13,554 (0.7 physicians per 1,000 population).
Taking into account the WHO recommended minimum doctor-to-population ratio of 1:1000, there is a shortage of nearly 4 lakh doctors. The geographical distribution of doctors is also clearly skewed, as most of them work in urban areas. There is also a shortage of nurses and paramedical staff. With about 18 lakhs nurses registered under Nursing Council of India (NCI) in 2020, another 10 lakh is needed to meet the demand of 1:3 nurses per 1000 population.
Anand Mahindra also recently tweeted that he was puzzled by the shortage of medical colleges in India and urged Mahindra University to explore the idea of establishing a medical studies institution on campus.
According to Dr. Vivek Desai, Founder & MD, HOSMAC, “Many students apply to medical colleges every year. However, many cannot afford the tuition fee of Rs 20 lakhs in private medical colleges per year and hence choose to study in countries like Ukraine , China and the Philippines, where they have to spend half of this amount.
Based in Mumbai, HOSMAC is a hospital planning, design and management consultancy offering services such as market research, business planning and transaction consultancy, public health consultancy, architectural design, interior design and equipment planning.
“The government is doing its best to add seats and has also allowed private hospitals to offer PG (specialization) and post-PG (super specialization) education. The number of PG seats has increased by 80 percent since 2014. It is time for the private sector to be more active. With the scarcity of medical chairs being clearly highlighted, we can expect more investment in the medical education sector, especially medical PG education. Public-private partnership models are likely to emerge. Also, the private sector will bring much-needed efficiencies to the system,” explains Dr. Desai out.
This post Ukraine crisis has exposed the country’s lack of medical chairs and prohibitive costs of medical education: experts
was original published at “https://www.financialexpress.com/healthcare/ukraine-crisis-has-highlighted-paucity-of-medical-seats-and-prohibitive-cost-of-medical-education-in-country-experts/2464118/”
