First cure disease of neglect & delay

The Supreme Court on Wednesday slammed the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) on 1,456 vacant seats in NEET PG-2021. There is a far more serious problem confronting medical education in the country in the form of the apathy of the government towards the super speciality education.

With more than 1,000 super speciality seats vacant in the field and even after three rounds of the counselling, there is no decision on filling up the same. Why is there this apathy towards super speciality in the country? On the one hand we have a serious demand-supply mismatch and then there is a faculty crunch too. Take for example, the case of Andhra Pradesh where the government is planning to open 13 new medical colleges. Is it possible for all these colleges, when they are in place, to have experienced faculty? A medical college is not a driving school where any new comer could be taught driving in three to six months and appointed as an instructor. We are dealing with life here and expertise is the only issue that counts in the long run. The academic quality could not be compromised at all.

Everyone agrees that there is an increasing need for specialisation, yet super speciality education is being ignored. As per the seat matrix published by the Medical Counselling Committee, a total number of 4,685 Doctorate of Medicine (DM) and Master of Chirurgiae (MCH) seats were available in the first round of NEET SS-2020 counselling. Among them 3,012 were DM and MCH seats in 45 specialties and 1,673 were DNB seats in 26 specialties. The number came down to 1,030 in the mop up round of NEET Super Speciality 2021. Although 113 seats were filled up after publication of results of NEET SS 20221 mop up round, the other seats remained vacant.

Apart from this, some students opted out after the admissions preferring to join AIIMS etc. What is further alarming is that prestigious seats of subjects like neurology, cardiology and oncology are also lying vacant (about 650 seats in all). The aspiring students have been going round knocking every door concerned, yet, there is a lack of response. Most of the students point to the fact that rural India badly needs the super specialists and filling up the vacancies is the only way the government could help India achieve its health goals (if any).

It is a real shame that our country which proudly claims as home to speciality health care for thousands of years has failed to meet the demand for doctors in the country. The 541 medical colleges in the country haven't been able to reach the standard of education that could provide healthcare to all. The doctor-patient ratio of 1:1655 in India is against the WHO norm of 1:1000. If only our politicians had time for the core issues that could make India a developed nation in a true sense instead of squabbling over whose faith is great and whose God is worse, we would be better off. "Vaidyo Narayano Hari"...is it not? Are we ready to think of these Gods?