Govt clears 5,000 more post-grad medical seats

NEW DELHI: India will now produce 5,000 more specialized doctors every year. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Thursday approved the health ministry’s proposal to add more postgraduate seats in 148 state government medical colleges.

The Rs 1,350 crore scheme will see a cost sharing ratio of 75:25 between the Centre and states. Though still far short of the numbers needed, the decision is being viewed as a positive step for a country that has a shortfall of 6 lakh doctors, 10 lakh nurses and 2 lakh dental surgeons.

Ironically, Indian doctors who have migrated to the developed world form nearly 5% of the medical workforce of their respective countries.

Thursday’s decision will see more doctors specializing in pre- and paraclinical disciplines like anatomy, microbiology, physiology, pharmacology, biochemistry, forensic medicine and community medicine. The country will also have more gynaecologists, paediatricians and general surgeons.

But where will India find teachers to teach these extra students? Ministry officials said they have recently amended the PG regulations wherein the student teacher ratio has been revised from 1:1 to 2:1 to enable medical colleges to increase seats in PG courses.

DOCS & DELHI

SIX MEDICAL COLLEGES: AIIMS, Lady Hardinge Medical College, Maulana Azad Medical College, University College of Medical Sciences, Vardhaman Mahavir Medical College, Army College of Medical Sciences.

730 seats on offer (630 in govt colleges + 100 in pvt college).

501 PG seats in Delhi, 13505 PG seats nationwide.