hemariya

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Indias growing demand for Quality Doctors
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How the government plans to fix the issue?

• The Indian medical education system has around
  529 registered medical colleges. Medical schools
  in India create the largest number of doctors in
  the world corresponding to the rapid increase of
  medical colleges in the last two decades,
  particularly within the private sector. The
  Medical Council of India (MCI), the regulatory
  body, is required to approve any important
  reforms in medical curricula. The authorization
  procedure for medical schools in the past has
  placed higher importance on the infrastructure
  along with staff and lesser on the quality of
  education imparted to the students. But this is
  about to change with the formation of the Medical
  Assessment and Rating Board or MARB which is to
  be responsible for granting permissions for the
  creation of new medical colleges and for existing
  medical colleges to start PG programs.
• The deficit of quality doctors is one of the
  major problems that is plaguing the current
  Indian medical system. The various loopholes that
  have been identified in the MCI regulations have
  made it possible for some private medical
  colleges without proper infrastructure or an
  adequate number of patients to get accreditation.
  This has been one of the key contributing factors
  in the gradual decline in quality of medical
  education in India over the years, a problem that
  the current government plans to tackle head-on
  with the introduction of the new National Medical
  Commission (NMC) Bill.

3

• According to a 2018 report, the doctor-patient
  ratio in India stands at 11300 but is gradually
  improving and is expected to reach the World
  Health Organisation (WHO) norm of 11000 by 2024.
  This when compared to other developed countries
  like the USA (1400), Germany (1244) and
  Australia (1303) places further emphasis on our
  governments efforts in increasing the number of
  doctors in the country. These numbers are
  inclusive of various medical practitioners like
  ayurveda, homeopathy, unani and allopathy, but
  taking only allopathic (modern medicine)
  practitioners into consideration would
  drastically reduce the stated doctor-patient
  ratio.
• India has such a huge resource of doctors but
  still finds it challenging in providing quality
  treatment to their patients. Statistics show that
  Tamil Nadu has a doctor-patient ratio of 1253
  whereas Jharkhand has 18180. This disproportion
  of doctors pan India is one of the most important
  issues faced by the medical system as its
  resulting issues are very widespread. Half of the
  children in India are not immunized and less than
  half of the women dont receive proper prenatal
  care during pregnancy. With the demand for
  doctors being high in rural areas, this uneven
  spread of qualified doctors shows us that its
  not just about the quality of education, but
  several other factors that affect the entire
  Indian medical system as a whole.

4

• In the current Indian medical education system,
  around 15.2 lakh students registered for the
  pre-medical entrance test in 2019, out of which
  only about 75,000 turn out to be fortunate enough
  to secure a seat. This huge gap in the numbers
  has given rise to a latest trend where an
  increasing number of students prefer to study
  medicine abroad as many countries provide Indian
  students with the opportunity to pursue a high
  quality medical education at very affordable
  costs.
• With the introduction of the governments new NMC
  bill, the number of available medical seats in
  the country is set to steadily increase
  year-on-year, while the Indian healthcare
  industry is also on the rise with an estimated
  2500 new hospitals to be setup within the next 5
  years. Although this is a positive factor in our
  countrys progress, and given that we continue to
  maintain this rate of steady growth, it will take
  us at least a decade at minimum to close the gap
  between the number of medical aspirants and the
  number of seats available to them. But until
  then, it will be the overseas study option that
  provides medical aspirants with a further chance
  at becoming a doctor and in-turn contribute to
  Indias growing number of qualified doctors.

5

• Privatization of educational institutions has
  further added to the commercialization of medical
  education in India. There have been many
  incidences in the past where private medical
  colleges were in the practice of taking
  exorbitant amounts of money as illegal fees and
  donations. But with the introduction of the new
  bill, the National Medical Commission from now
  will regulate all fees related charges for 50
  percent of all seats in both deemed universities
  and private medical colleges, making medical
  education in India more accessible and
  affordable.
• Most faculties in private medical colleges are
  extremely busy private practitioners and their
  private practice in some way or the other
  compromises with their required research and
  preparation time. The demand for quality doctors
  is so much that many of them choose to do
  multiple practices, with most having a clinic of
  their own and also practicing as a visiting
  doctor in high-end hospitals. This shift by
  doctors affects their performance in teaching and
  hence, it becomes one of the main contributing
  factors that adds to the lack of quality
  educators in the Indian medical system.

6

• The National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill was
  introduced by Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan
  in Lok Sabha on July 22, 2019. The Indian Medical
  Council Act will be repealed after the National
  Medical Commission Bill is put into practice.
  This bill has introduced a new entrance exam
  called the National Exit Test (NEXT) for the
  students of MBBS. The NEXT will also serve as a
  screening test for Indian students who have a
  graduation degree in medicine from a foreign
  country. The Medical Bill was approved by the
  Union Cabinet which stated that the National
  Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), common
  counseling and NEXT shall even apply to
  Institutes of National Importance (INIs) similar
  to AIIMS to have common standards in India. The
  release stated that Commission will control fees
  and all other charges for 50 percent seats in
  private medical colleges and deemed universities.
  The statement further added that the Medical
  Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) will carry out
  an assessment to the medical college and develop
  a system of ranking medical colleges that would
  allow the students to chose the medical college
  judiciously. Such measures will assure a more
  transparent admission process and also bring
  about a significant decrease in all admission
  related costs and charges.

7

• As demonstrated in the past, India has been on
  the back foot when it comes to the quality of
  medical education, which in turn directly
  influences the countrys need for more qualified
  doctors. But things are about to take a turn for
  the better with the introduction of the new
  National Medical Commission Bill. With this bill,
  the Indian government aims to drastically reform
  the current Indian medical education system by
  bringing in high-quality and up-to-date study
  material while also factoring in a much-needed
  degree of fairness and transparency into the
  entire student selection process.
• Authored by Mr. Saju Bhaskar, Founder
  President of Texila American University located
  in Guyana, South America

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