As Centre invites private hospitals to begin medical courses, experts divided over quality, cost of education

Additionally, there has been a 94 per cent rise in the number of MBBS seats – from 51,348 to 99,763 – and a 107 per cent increase in the number of postgraduate (PG) seats – from 31,185 before 2014 to 64,559. Also, as per reports, 50 new medical colleges have been approved this year, adding 8,195 more undergraduate seats and taking the total number of such seats in the country past 1,07,658, official sources revealed.

While the idea of increasing the number of medical colleges by roping in private hospitals for medical education sounds good on paper, experts are divided over this new announcement.

Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) chief Dr Rohan Krishnan believes private hospitals starting their own medical courses in India can lead to a decline in the quality of medical education in the country. “It is very important to maintain the quality of medical education rather than just opening medical colleges with a lot of seats. To impart quality education, we need faculties which are not present right now in our private hospitals,” he tells indianexpress.com.

“These hospitals only have consultants and associate consultants and no one who knows anything about teaching, research, thesis, guidelines, clinical teaching, bedside teaching, laboratory teaching, etc which are some of the most important aspects of medical education. We have to produce quality doctors, and not just MBBS graduates,” Dr Krishnan says.

On the other hand, Dr Rohan Khandelwal, lead consultant and HOD at the Breast Centre, C K Birla Hospital, Gurgaon, believes this can be a good step. However, he is quick to add that such institutes or hospitals “would need to have stringent criteria regarding what kind of patient load these private hospitals are seeing, and if they have the necessary facilities to start a medical college.”

However, Amrita Hospital, which already conducts courses at its Kochi branch and is now launching medical courses at its Faridabad branch, says the institute ensures that the quality of education being provided adheres to government guidelines. “We maintain quality control in the courses by implementing a continuous quality assurance programme based on NAAC standards and following the Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) process established by the University Grants Commission (UGC),” says Dr Prem Kumar Nair, Provost (Medical Sciences), Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.

In addition to the quality, what worries experts and aspirants is the increasing cost of medical education. “The exorbitant fees that private medical colleges charge discourages students. So one must focus on two important things in medical education – one is affordability and two is basic facility, equipment and maintenance of the minimum standard guidelines of the Medical Council or the National Medical Commission. One should never compromise on quality and affordability,” Dr Krishnan adds.

One of the benefits that students can get through this new initiative is that once they graduate, they will have a better chance of finding jobs in the medical industry. “Students who complete their courses at the organisation do get preference during the hiring process at Amrita Hospital. This is because the faculty is familiar with the strengths and skills of each student and how well they are trained. As a result, when the students are hired, they quickly integrate into the team, and there is a short learning curve for any required training. This ensures that they are productive from day one,” Dr Nair explains.

Having medical students on the hospital campuses also helps improve the hospital’s workforce and maintain the daily workload, he added. “Our Kochi branch does not face any issues in conducting courses while maintaining the daily work of the hospitals. In fact, the courses are beneficial to the department as the faculty can mentor the students and senior students can guide the juniors. No issues have been reported with the hospital’s operations while conducting the courses,” he clarifies.

(The National Medical Commission is yet to respond to a request for comment.)