Critically Analyse The Limitations of Indian Medical Education System, Suggesting Some Remedial Measures. (150 Words / 10 M) (GS-2 Health)

Approach:

1. Introduction.
2. Point out the major limitations in medical education.
3. Suggest some key remedial measures.

India deals with serious shortage of medical professionals, which is a major impediment for achieving the health-related Sustainable Development Goals. Fixing the problems in the medical industry is crucial to the health and well-being of a country.

Some of the major limitations in Indian medical education system are mentioned as below:

• The number of medical colleges in India are way too lessthan required. For example, only 89,875 out of 1.6 million students who appeared in NEET-2021, were selected for 596 medical colleges in the country.
• India is also lacking in providingadequate quality faculty, which will be a hinderance in case number of seats are increased.
• Fees structure in the private medical colleges is not affordable leading to inequities in medical education.
• There has been mushrooming of poor quality colleges which lack proper infrastructure, and trained faculty at the postgraduate level.
• Methods of education are still not updated with advances in e-learning including digital dissections and remote learning.

Remedial Measures to strengthen medical education in India:

In order to effectively address these challenges, our health systems must be strengthened. Some of the suggested remedial measures are :

• Government should increase the healthcare spending to 5% of the GDP as envisaged by Economic Survey 2020-21.
• Increase the number of medical colleges, especially in states that have a low number of seats with MBBS Courses. It can bring in uniformity of access across states and fill the demand-supply gap.
• Common classrooms must be created by virtually linking medical colleges with more prevalent use of technology, to share some of the faculty where there is considerable faculty shortage.
• State governments must financially assist in transformation of district hospitals with added nursing colleges and allied health professional training centers to create a multi-layered, multi-skilled health workforce.
• Pushing for reforms like Restructuring medical licensing systems, ranking medical colleges, and standardizing entry requirements at medical schools across the country are all essential reforms under the NMC.