Several people’s representatives, academicians and medical experts have urged the Union and State governments to establish more medical colleges with affordable fee structure so that the students hailing from the middle class families will be able to pursue their UG and PG medical courses here itself instead of going to far-off destinations.
‘Huge burden’
Asserting that medical education has become out of bounds for the middle class families, they say that the private medical colleges are collecting around ₹15 lakh per year for a ‘B’ category seat and more than ₹25 lakh per year for a ‘C’ category seat. The private colleges, which allocate 50% of their seats for the Convener Quota (‘A’ category), are allowed to fill the remaining seats under the ‘B’ and ‘C’ categories.
Students with a score of more than 550 out of 720 in the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) alone are able to gain admission in the government colleges or private colleges under ‘A’ category, for which a nominal fee is collected, while the remaining have to either go for ‘B’ or ‘C’ category seats by shelling out huge amounts of money or opt out, or look for opportunities abroad.
Former Minister for Medical and Health Kondru Murali Mohan, who had sanctioned three government medical colleges and five private medical colleges during his tenure in the unified Andhra Pradesh told The Hindu that both the Central and State governments should make serious efforts for establishing more colleges so that the students would not opt for medical education in foreign countries such as Ukraine or China, where they need to spend just about ₹5 lakh per year.
“The government should constitute a committee to study the reasons for affordable fee structure in medical colleges abroad, and try to replicate it here so as to enable our students to study medicine in India itself,” Mr. Murali added.
Former Member of Parliament D.V.G. Sankar Rao, a doctor by profession, said serious efforts were needed to establish more number of medical colleges in a time-bound manner.
“Medical education abroad may be within the reach of the common people as they need to spend around ₹25 lakh for five years. But a majority of such students are unable to clear the mandatory Medical Council of India (MCI) examination in order to get recognition for the degree obtained abroad,” Dr. Sankara Rao said.
“It is better to have more colleges in the country and ensure that medical education is within the reach of the students and parents,” said Dr. Sankara Rao, who at present is working in the Maharaja Institute of Medical Sciences (MIMS), a private medical college at Nellimarla in Vizianagaram district.
Former State vice-president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) J.C. Naidu said establishment of new medical colleges without compromising on infrastructure and quality faculty was the need of the hour.
WHO norm
“Acute shortage of doctors is leading to denial of medical and health facilities to people. At least one doctor should be available for every 1,000 people as per the guidelines of the World Health Organisation (WHO),” he added.
“Only 80,000 seats are available in 595 medical colleges located across the cournty. Out of them, 29 are in Andhra Pradesh. Around 1.5 lakh UG medical seats are needed to meet the medical and health requirements of the nation,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Vizianagaram district officials welcomed the students who returned from Ukraine at the Visakhapatnam International Airport.
