GS Paper I & II
News Excerpt:
During the inspection of several medical schools, it was found that nearly 80% of Indian medical colleges do not meet even the minimum criteria laid down by the medical education regulator National Medical Commission (NMC).
More about News
- Officials of the National Medical Commission (NMC) found absenteeism of faculties, inadequate and poor infrastructure, and student grievances on issues such as ragging, inadequate hostels, poor student-teacher relationship.
- There are about 700 government and private medical schools approved by NMC that provide courses such as MBBS, MD/MS, and diplomas at the UG & PG levels.
New regulation
- Last year, the NMC issued a new regulation called the Maintenance of Minimum Standards of Medical Education Regulations (MSMER), 2023 under which colleges are supposed to give self-declaration and attendance of faculties.
- UG or PG medical colleges have to meet the requirements for the board to give a renewal certificate for continuation of the courses and admission of MBBS students for the next coming academic year.
Penalties for Non compliance
- NMC can impose penalties ranging from Rs10 lakh to Rs50 lakh, which may even go up to Rs1 crore for Non compliance of minimum criteria.
- If these colleges do not improve on these parameters, the regulator may reduce the number of seats in these colleges.
Inspection and Feedback system
- The inspection of medical colleges is a crucial activity for ensuring and enhancing the quality of medical education in India.
- The inspections also include feedback or grievances of the students include- ragging, students are not getting weekly off, no issuance of stipend to the students or in some cases very little stipend is being given, mental health of students etc.
Measures Taken by Institution
- Since last year, all medical colleges have strictly been mandated to implement the Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS) to keep a tab on attendance of faculties & students.
- To make the inspection transparent and free from bias, NMC engages third party assessors to examine the deficiencies.
Medical Education Expansion in India:
- India has added 225 new medical colleges in the last 5 years (from 2018-19 to 2023-24).
- Total number of medical colleges increased from 479 in 2017-18 to 704 in 2023-24 (47% increase)
- Number of MBBS seats grew from 67,025 in 2017-18 to 107,950 in 2023-24 (61% increase)
- The number of postgraduate medical seats in the country doubled from 25,850 in 2015-16 to 52,935 in 2023-24
State-wise Additions of Medical colleges:
- In the last 5 years Telangana added the highest 31 new medical colleges followed by Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
- Jammu & Kashmir and Jharkhand tripled their number of medical colleges.
- Assam, Manipur, Rajasthan and Telangana doubled their medical colleges.
Regional distribution of Medical Colleges in India:
- Top 5 states - Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, UP, Maharashtra and Telangana account for 47% of all medical colleges in India.
- Kerala had 33 medical colleges in 2023-24, down from 34 in 2017-18.
Issues Faced by Medical education in India:
- Both public and private medical colleges face faculty shortages, infrastructure issues.
- Regulatory complexities and budget constraints impede private sector participation in medical education.
- Medical colleges are resource-intensive and require substantial infrastructure investments.
Doctor-Population Ratio:
- India has 0.9 doctors for every 1,000 people, close to the World Health Organization standard of 1:1,000.
- Yet, the country’s secondary care institutions in the public sector have an acute shortage of specialists.
- Experts call for more investment on medical education, ensuring availability of infrastructure and faculty, and increased participation from the private sector to improve postgraduate medical education in the country, thereby increasing the number of specialists.
Specialist Shortage:
- There is an acute shortage of specialists in secondary care public health institutions.
- Non-communicable diseases requiring specialist care account for 61.8% deaths in 2016.
- Specialist shortages at Community Health Centers increased from 46% in 2005 to 80% in 2021.
Postgraduate Seats:
- Most of the doubling of PG seats happened in government medical colleges.
- Public colleges contribute more to PG seat expansion than private ones.
- India's PG:UG seat ratio of 0.67:1 is low compared to China (1.01), US (1.85), UK (5.98)
- Vacant PG seats often in low-demand fields like pharmacology, anatomy etc.
Faculty Shortage:
- Both old and new medical colleges, including 11 out of 18 operational AIIMS (All India Institutes of Medical Sciences), are facing severe shortages of teaching faculty.
- Newly established institutes like the AIIMS are facing resource overburdening due to high student-teacher ratios, ranging from 2:1 in AIIMS Bilaspur to 5.4:1 in Gorakhpur.
- The faculty shortages have resulted in very high student-teacher ratios, exceeding the recommended ratio of 1:2 or 1:3.
- There has also been a reduction in the number of sanctioned teaching posts in medical colleges, exacerbating the shortage.
- Along with reduced sanctioned posts, there has been an increase in vacancy rates for teaching positions which is more pronounced in public medical institutions compared to private ones.
- Reasons for Vacancies:
- Complex hiring processes and administrative issues are cited as the main reasons for these high vacancy rates in teaching positions.
- There is also the opportunity cost of taking up a teaching role compared to practicing as a doctor often discourages medical professionals from transitioning to teaching roles in medical colleges.
Way Forward:
- Increased Investment: There is a need for increased investment in medical education infrastructure, faculty recruitment, and retention to improve the quality of medical education.
- Ensuring Availability of Infrastructure and Faculty: Efforts should be made to ensure the availability of adequate infrastructure, including well-equipped facilities, and a sufficient number of qualified teaching faculty in medical colleges.
- Increased Private Sector Participation: Encouraging increased participation from the private sector, especially in postgraduate medical education and specialist training, which requires high investments in infrastructure.
- Focus on Specialist Training: Increasing the focus on producing more specialists, as there is an acute shortage of specialists in secondary care public health institutions, particularly for non-communicable diseases.
- Improving Student-Teacher Ratios: Addressing the issue of high student-teacher ratios, which exceed the recommended norms, by increasing the number of teaching faculty and potentially limiting student intake.
- Addressing Administrative and Hiring Challenges: Simplifying administrative processes and addressing complexities in hiring procedures to reduce faculty vacancies in medical colleges.
- Incentives for Rural Service: Providing incentives and addressing concerns related to quality of life and professional networks to encourage doctors to practice in rural areas, addressing the urban-rural imbalance in healthcare delivery.
|
Maintenance of Standards of Medical Education Regulations 2023 It provides for following regulations and compliance from the medical colleges. The required conditions prescribed by NMC for evaluation will include the following process:
|
