The proposal sent by People for Better Society (PEBS) to Hon.Prime Minister of India
Sir,
Sub:- Doubling of the medical seats to cater the aspirants and to make the country self sufficient in medical sector-reg
Prime Minister’s thought
------------------------------
Prime
Minister said recently ,” our children today are going to small
countries for study, especially in medical education. Can our private
sector not enter this field in a big way? Can our state governments not
frame good policies for land allotment regarding this?” A serious
thought and action is needed to address this issue .
Present day migration of candidates
-------------------
It
is estimated that 20,000 -25,000 students from India go abroad to study
medicine every year. One key factor driving this trend is that
pursuing MBBS is relatively cheaper in several other countries. It is
easier to get into one of these foreign colleges than into medical
colleges in India where there is intense competition for limited seats.
China, Russia and Ukraine account for about 60% of the outflow. The fee
for the entire MBBS course ,which is 6 years abroad, including living
expenses and cost of coaching to clear the screening test on return to
India , would cost about Rs.35 lakhs in a fairly decent college in one
of these countries. In comparison, just the tuition fee for the MBBS
course in private medical colleges in India typically costs Rs.45 lakhs to 55 lakhs or even more.
Demand –Supply gap
------------------------------
In
addition to affordability, the demand –supply gap in medical seats is
just as much a reason for the migration. For the 7 to 8 lakh students
who qualify through NEET ,there are only 90,000 plus seats in India. A
little over half the seats are in Government colleges, where the fee
structure is affordable for general students, but are extremely
difficult to get into unless one has a very high NEET score. Government
quota seats in private medical colleges also need high NEET score. Other
than these, there are only about 20,000 management quota seats
available in private colleges. The NRI quota, sponsored by NRIs has a
sky high fee ,hence affordable for a select few of NEET qualified
students. The fee alone for management and NRI quota range from roughly
Rs.30 lakh to over 1.2 crore as the course fees. The present system of
50% seats in private colleges are on subsidised fee, means remaining 50%
are forced to remit higher fee. Hence, students opt foreign countries
where fee is comparatively less. The only way to arrest the trend is to
have more affordable medical colleges in India. According to Ministry
of Health, there are 88,120 under graduate seats in Medical colleges in
India as of December 2021.Over 15.44 lakh candidates appeared for NEET
–UG in 2021, around 8.7 lakh candidates cleared the examination last
year, that means only 10% of the total qualifying candidates. The gap in
demand and availability for MBBS seats are huge.
Quality of education
-------------------------
These
are the major reasons for the migration of students. One set of
students applying abroad are those aiming for top colleges in countries
like US and UK, but a chunk of aspirants are those who couldn’t manage a
seat in the Government medical colleges or expensive private colleges.
They prefer even Bangladesh and Nepal to fulfil their aspirations. But,
it’s a known fact that only 14 to 20 % of the students going abroad are
clearing the Foreign Medical Graduate examinations conducted by
Government of India.
Present reality
------------------
At present,medical colleges are concentrated in certain states. TN(69),UP(67),Karnataka(63),
PPP model with CSR part
------------------------------
It
is high time to think of a Public-Private partnership to expand the
seat capacity in MBBS over the next few years to cater the aspirations
of the students to study inside the country and to fulfil the UN
standard of one doctor for 1000 people. It is needed at least to add
30,000 seats every year .Private sector could have acted as a fruitful
partner for the Government where the latter could focus on giving
quality medical education for economically and socially backward at
affordable prices and letting the former to cater to those who missed
out on Government seats. Presently, private sector faces two chief
problems. First is the suffocating regulations that put forth earlier by
MCI and now by NMC. It is extremely hard for genuine edu-prenuers to
open medical colleges . One requires hundreds of crores of initial
investment ,annual license approvals that need 6 months official work
every year, requirement of setting up various teaching departments,
setting up an attached hospital with certain number of beds, more
approvals to even add seats /beds in already functioning
colleges/hospitals etc. Government can change the traditional way of
education to use the facilities already available to boost the medical
education .
Suggestions
----------------
1.Government
could ask large hospital groups to set up colleges and provide
attractive incentives ,while keeping the fee affordable
2.
In small states where land is scarce ,allow PPP model to start
colleges with a minimum of 5 acres of land. The present ,the institution
needed 20 acres of land or on lease for 99 years. Applicant could have a
hospital of not less than 300 beds with necessary infrastructure.
Teaching professionals, students’ hostels, lab, lecture hall, library
and all other facilities can be made essential except 20 acre land and
300 bed hospital. Theory classes can be conducted at the college which
can be established in 5 acre land and for practical ,existing
infrastructure of Government hospitals and private hospitals in that
Taluka can be pooled. A coordinated mechanism should be made by
effective academic-administrative forum to be constituted by the state
government in consultation with NMC .
3.It
is important to have a mechanism for fee and quality regulation.NMC can
make state level committee of medical experts to assess the quality of
education on a quarterly basis .
4.Present
system of granting permission initially for a period of one year and
renewal on yearly basis should go. Permission to be given for 5 years
under the supervision of state level academic committees.
Anticipating a positive action in this regard.
Thanking you,
Yours faithfully,
V.R.Ajith kumar
PresidentPEBS
M-9567011942
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