There are about 22000 PG medical seats in the country – grossly inadequate for a country of this size
In a bid to increase postgraduate seats, the government has made it mandatory for all medical colleges to teach postgraduate students.
All existing medical colleges will have to start P-G courses from academic year 2020-21, according to amendments made to the Post-Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000, of the Medical Council of India (MCI). The regulations will also apply to new medical colleges, besides dealing with existing private and government colleges, and they will have to start P-G courses within three years of receiving recognition for running undergraduate courses. There are currently a little over 22000 PG seats in the country and a crippling shortage of specialists with some disciplines churning out less than 10 specialists a year.
“The move is aimed at addressing the scarcity of doctors in the country. Once the amendments get implemented, around 10,000 post-graduate seats would be created over the next four years”
Institutions failing to start PG courses will lose their recognition, a senior Health Ministry official said. The ministry has approved the amendments and the new regulations would to be notified soon. “The move is aimed at addressing the scarcity of doctors in the country. Once the amendments get implemented, around 10,000 post-graduate seats would be created over the next four years,” the official said.The official said medical colleges will have to apply for new seats for starting P-G courses. The MCI will conduct an inspection before giving its approval for increasing seats for 2019-20 academic session.
If a medical college that has given an application for starting a PG course fails the MCI inspection, it will get two more opportunities in the succeeding years to make an application. if it still fails to clear it, the college will also lose the recognition for MBBS. This will be applicable from the academic year 2020-21. The amendments also say that if an Institute fails to seek recognition for existing PG courses, the Medical Council of India may recommend an “exemplary”penalty of upto Rs 10 lakh per seat of the PG course and/or stoppage of other PG medical courses of the Institution. In addition, the institution may also be debarred from making an application for starting or increase of seats in PG courses for a specified period and/or reducing the intake capacity of MBBS.
There have been several attempts in the last few years to bolster the numbers of both undergraduate and postgraduate medical seats including easing of rules for private hospitals. However there were few takers with no private hospital chain coming forward with such proposals.
