The Centre has eased the ‘tough’ norm with the objective of injecting transparency in medical education as a large number of existing medical colleges are indirectly owned by business houses through their non-profit making Trusts.
Given that there is an acute shortage of medical practitioners in the country, the move is aimed at meeting the crisis as the rule relaxation would help in establishing new medical colleges, a top government official said. The availability of doctors/medical practitioners in the country is less than neighbouring countries as the nation has just 0.7 doctors per 1,000 people, which is lower than Pakistan’s 0.8, China’s 1.5, and UAE’s 2.5.
As per existing law, any profit making firm is not allowed entry in the medical education business. This bar is all set to be lifted, thereby clearing the decks for private players.
“It is a known fact that Trusts do make profits through ‘different means’ as most of the Trustees are businessmen. So the government has tried to make it more transparent. Instead of peeking into the account books of these Trusts, the government would directly scan the financial transactions of colleges being owned by commercial ventures,” the official said.
According to the official, the decision was taken after the issue was discussed at a recent high-level meeting on medical education in the presence of officials from the Prime Minister’s Office. At the meet, the private players raised their concern that the existing Medical Council of India guideline was an impediment to opening new medical colleges.
The ministry is also considering relaxing the existing teacher, student ratio from 1:3 to 1:4 or more, to enable private colleges to admit more students to meet the doctor, pupil ratio.
There are 450 medical colleges in the country, of which about 300 colleges are run by private players. At present there is an urgent requirement for one lakh MBBS seats. However, there are only 55,000 seats on offer.
Doctors welcoming the move, have raised concerns on the availability of practitioners in
rural areas. Meanwhile, when contacted, MCI president Jayshree Mehta refused to comment.