8216;Open medical education fully to pvt sector8217;

Identifying quality human resource as an immediate need in health care, the Planning Commission today recommended opening up of the medical education sector completely to private participation to meet the demand. The overriding requirement in the country is for increasing the supply of human resources at all levels, from specialists to paramedical personnel and to improve their quality, a high-level group on services sector, constituted under the chairmanship of commission member Anwarul Hoda said. The group has taken the view that the only way to accomplish this is for the medical education sector to be opened up completely for private sector participation and companies being allowed to establish medical and dental colleges just as they have been allowed to open nursing colleges. Other entry barriers such as land and built up space should be lowered to realistic levels.

The report, submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, also asked the government to fill up vacant posts to improve quality of teaching in government medical colleges and to enable these colleges provide higher incentives. The paramedical council for regulatory purposes and the proposed institute of Paramedical Sciences should be established at the earliest to cope with the shortage of paramedical staff, it said. The report said, 8220;in order to meet the immediate human resource requirement of hospitals for medical value travel and telemedicine and of service providers for clinical research, access should be given to them to the overseas pool of medical professionals who may be willing to work in India.8221;

The group also asked the government to ensure that the Clinical Establishments Registration and Regulation Bill, 2007 becomes law and enters into force for all states.