Topic owner: Manju Mehrotra: What is happening at various medical colleges in Tamil Nadu is the story of every private medical college across the country; only authorities do not know or do not want to know it. The scam is much deeper in higher education in the medical field i.e. MD/MS courses. The root cause of the problem lies in the government policies. The private colleges are merely taking advantage. The average ratio of MBBS seats to PG seats is 100:29 (TOI Ahmedabad Edition, 07 June 2009, page 7). Various entrance exams are conducted each year for admission to PG courses and more than 70% doctors are found unfit to pursue higher studies, but the same are however deemed fit to treat the masses. Some who can shell out huge sums of money collected by their parents (Very few people can pay such hefty donations out of their hard-earned tax-paid money) still manage to get admission to PG courses and start making good the loss as soon as possible from the same vulnerable masses.
As for the argument that we need more MBBS doctors than specialists, India being a poor country, it is at best a pathetic lie. In today’s world of vast knowledge and state of the art technology MBBS doctor at best can be only half a doctor who should not practice without supervision, support staff and a proper referral system.
Specialist doctors do not go to rural area due to lack of infrastructure, paramedical staff, and most importantly, as they can get away with it due to artificially created shortage of specialists. Once the supply meets the demand, market forces will force them to go to rural areas and also create facilities there.
For the VIP’s (I thought God made us all equal) even specialists at AIIMS are not good enough, so why are the commoners being denied the services of specialist doctors. We still live in the era of Licence Raj as far as Medical Education in this country is concerned. Will India be ever free from the clutches of corrupt bodies like UGC, MCI, incompetent bureaucrats and greedy politicians?
As for the argument that we need more MBBS doctors than specialists, India being a poor country, it is at best a pathetic lie. In today’s world of vast knowledge and state of the art technology MBBS doctor at best can be only half a doctor who should not practice without supervision, support staff and a proper referral system.
Specialist doctors do not go to rural area due to lack of infrastructure, paramedical staff, and most importantly, as they can get away with it due to artificially created shortage of specialists. Once the supply meets the demand, market forces will force them to go to rural areas and also create facilities there.
For the VIP’s (I thought God made us all equal) even specialists at AIIMS are not good enough, so why are the commoners being denied the services of specialist doctors. We still live in the era of Licence Raj as far as Medical Education in this country is concerned. Will India be ever free from the clutches of corrupt bodies like UGC, MCI, incompetent bureaucrats and greedy politicians?