100 more government medical colleges needed'

Updated on: Wednesday, June 30, 2010

In a bid to overcome shortage of medical professionals, the Board of Governors of the Medical Council of India (MCI) is making an assessment of the number of doctors and medical colleges required in the country, particularly in the hilly regions and the north-eastern States.

Board chairman S.K. Sarin said at a press conference here on Tuesday that India needed at least 100 more government medical colleges to fulfil the requirement of doctors. “We have already discussed it with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and will approach the Planning Commission. It will give more control to the government over medical education,” he said.

The Board has established 13 working groups to prepare reports on various aspects of medical education and regulation, including medical ethics reform and skill assessment. Two or three groups will start functioning from next week. The papers will then be discussed at the consultative groups in August before finalising the documents.

On the shortage of faculty in medical colleges, he said the MCI was looking into the possibility of re-assessing the teacher-student ratio, hiking the salaries of teachers, proposing human resource development and even allowing joint appointments. “Reforms are coming into medical education.”

Meanwhile, all documents pertaining to the permission for opening new colleges, expansion of colleges and increasing the seats will be put up on the website by Wednesday. The assessment reports for all colleges were received by the Board from the assessors and the final decisions would be announced in the next 10 days.

100 more government medical colleges needed'

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