Now, India to churn out 4,452 more doctors

IndiaВ is all set to produce over 4,400 more doctors every year.

TheВ Medical Council of IndiaВ (MCI) has increased the number of seats for undergraduate medical education by 4,452 from this academic session (2011-12).

Around 2,650 seats have been increased due to the opening of new colleges.And, the rest of seats (1,802) came about after the strength of the existing colleges was increased.

India has around 335 medical colleges 185 and 150 in private public sector, respectively and will produce over 40,000 MBBS doctors every year.

Even though the requirement is much higher, experts say the increased number of seats is a positive step forward.

According to MCI’s governing body member Dr Purushottam Lal, the Council received 86 applications for permission to start medical colleges this year.Around 43 were disapproved on scrutiny, and 43 were inspected.Of those inspected, 22 weren’t cleared.

Of the 21 new colleges cleared, 16 and five are in the private and public sector, respectively.

TheВ MCIВ received 104 applications from registered colleges for further increase of seats.Around 43 were disapproved on scrutiny, and 61 were inspected.Of those inspected, only 33 (18 and 15 in private and public sector, respectively) fulfilled the criteria, and were given permission to ramp up their strength.

«We’ve an additional 4,452 seats from this academic year itself for undergraduate medical education,» Dr Lal added.

India faces a severe shortage of doctors.

Earlier, a planning commission study had said India is short of six lakh doctors, 10 lakh nurses and 2 lakh dental surgeons because of which it has a dismal patient-doctor ratio.

For every 10,000 Indians, there is one doctor.Another recent paper, «human resources for health in India», published in the British Medical JournalВ Lancet, said, there are eight healthcare workers, 3.8 allopathic doctors and 2.4 nurses per 10,000 population.When compared to other countries, this is about half the WHO benchmark of 25.4 workers per 10,000 people.

MCI’s own note on «curricular reform in undergraduate medical education», available with TOI, says, the current doctor population ratio in India is 1:1700 when compared to a world average of 1.5:1000.The committee came reached a consensus that targeted doctor population ratio should be 1:1000 by 2031.

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