India has seen the rise of 231 new medical colleges since last ten years. While the government plans to increase the medical seats and number of medical colleges, there is one particular state which hasn’t had a single opening of new medical college over the last fifty years!
The last medical college to open in Jharkhand was in 1969, long before the state even came into existence. Apart from this last established government-run Patliputra Medical College in Dhanbad, there are just two more medical colleges in the state, both government-run, opened in 1960 and 1961.
Even this year, where India has witnessed the largest ever expansion of medical seats, including government seats, Jharkhand did not get one single new college. Though one AIIMS has been sanctioned for Deoghar in the state, that’s also in the pipeline. Jharkhand has one of the worst doctors to population ratio of close to one for every 8,200 people.
Another state with a poor doctor-patient ratio 1:4,338, Chattisgarh got no new colleges in the 2019 mega-expansion. Bihar, another state with low doctor-patient ratio has got only one new private medical college this year.
But unlike Jharkhand, Chattisgarh has added seven new colleges since 2010 four of which were government run. Two of the seven have been debarred from admission this year. Bihar too has added six new colleges from 2010, including four government ones with 100 seats each.
Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, which also has a poor doctor-patient ratio, got seven, four and three government colleges respectively. Each of these medical colleges has got 100 seats each. Even states which already have a glut of doctors, like Tamil Nadu with one doctor for just over 250 people, got two new colleges, one private and one government-owned, with 150 seats each.
Since 2010, medical colleges and MBBS seats have substantially increased in India. Even big states, including those complaining of over-production of doctors, has continued to open new medical colleges barring Jharkhand. Karnataka’s doctor-population is 1:507, well above the WHO target of 1:1,000.
Karnataka, which already had among the highest number of medical colleges, saw 19 more being opened from 2010. Of these, ten were private with 150 seats each. Five of these ten private medical colleges has been opened in Bengaluru. Two of the nine government colleges set up since 2010 are also in Bengaluru, taking the total in the city to 14.
Also, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, which faces a glut with one doctor for about 500 people, have seen a steep rise in medical colleges since 2010. Considering all the statistics, it is clear that the states with a poor doctor-patient ratio are facing desperate shortages that are not getting addressed!
Source: Times of India