In a major boost to the health infrastructure in Maharashtra, the state Cabinet Wednesday gave the approval for setting up government medical colleges (GMCs) in nine districts with a sanctioned fund of Rs 4,366 crore. The drought-prone Vidarbha region get the major chunk of it (how many?). For years, the public health policy makers and doctors have been raising the need to establish medical institutions in each district which can help to bridge the gap between the demand and availability of doctors. Out of the 36 districts in Maharashtra, only 23 of them have government medical colleges so far. However, with the establishment of the nine GMCs in Gadchiroli, Bhandara, Buldhana, Washim, Wardha, Amravati, Jalna, Thane and Palghar, the number of GMCs would increase to 32. Last year, in the state's budget, the announcement to construct 12 medical colleges was made. “The medical colleges will help in producing efficient and specialized doctors. This will not only help in providing timely treatments but also address the issue of shortages of doctors in the state,” said Girish Mahajan, the state medical education minister. Earlier, in several instances, the state government had proposed setting up GMC in Palghar and Thane but it remained only on papers. “Due to unavailability of specialized doctors in government hospitals, the patients are forced to travel to Mumbai. Nearly 40 per cent of the city's caseload are from the neighbouring districts,” said a doctor from KEM hospital. However, the doctor also warned that along with setting up medical colleges, the government should also focus on hiring professors and doctors to train the students. “Often, we see that the hospital staffers are shuffled from medical college to another to cover the huge shortages of staffers. Some GMCs don't even have deans and departments run without HODs,” said a former officer from Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER).
