No quick fix: On the state of medical education in India

News: Many Indian students are pursuing medicine in Ukraine. The war in Ukraine highlighted the need to strengthen medical education in India.

About PM’s remark on Indian medical education

The Prime Minister, on Union Budget announcements on the health sector, stated that many young Indians were going to “small countries of the world for medical education.” He also urged the government a) To encourage the private sector, b) To set up more medical colleges and hospitals locally, along with cooperation from States, so that such aspirants remain in India.

About medical education and Indian students abroad

The most sought-after international destinations – for medical education are the U.S., the U.K. and a few West European countries. But these countries are too expensive for most Indians.

In the last few decades, Russia, China and Ukraine with their historical commitment to public health care have been able to offer more affordable, yet quality, medical education.

What is the challenge faced in medical education in India?

1) India’s huge population still continues to be predominantly rural, so make most of the trained medical doctors, paramedics and nurses gravitate towards cities, 2) Nature of medical education: Medical education requires significant infrastructure — land, equipment, and trained faculty at the postgraduate level — all of which are in short supply and unevenly spread across India, 3) Low spending on health: For several years, India’s spending on health care has consistently lagged behind several countries comparable to its size. For this reason, there is barely one doctor for every 1,000 Indians and specialists often a tenth of what is required.

For these reasons, there is an increase in young Indians seeking affordable, quality, health-care education in other countries. Without correcting these deficiencies, India cannot expect to dramatically increase the availability of medical personnel.

What should be done to revive medical education?

Encouraging private establishments to start medical schools might repeat the engineering fiasco. I.e., a plethora of colleges without adequately trained faculty or infrastructure that churn out students who need further skills upgrade to be employable.

The Government must 1) Make health care the centrepiece of its economic rebuilding, 2) Provide long-term commitment offering necessary training and post-graduate education, 3) Ease procedures for establishing medical colleges, 4) Spend more on infrastructure, and 5) Provide incentives for a health-care ecosystem to develop in rural areas.

Over time, this will facilitate the growth of private and public medical colleges that could stem the outflow of students aspiring to be doctors.

Source: This post is based on the article “No quick fix: On the state of medical education in India” published in The Hindu on 28^th Feb 2022.