Those doing post graduation after MBBS will now have more seats for MD and MS courses in medical colleges. The number of PG seats will go up by one and a half because of the Medical Council of India raising teacher-student ratio. So far a professor can guide two students in clinical subjects. Now he can guide three. It means a medical college having 10 professors will be able to seek clearance for 30 PG seats.
Similarly, an associate professor will be able to guide two students instead of one while the chief associate professor can guide three instead of two students. The colleges have been asked to open admissions for the PG courses up to May 15 in view of the change introduced by the MCI. It will result in more post-graduate residents in hospitals to reduce shortage.
The decision comes at a time of a US report that India has a shortage of an estimated 6 lakh doctors and 20 lakh nurses and this lack of properly trained staff in administering antibiotics is preventing patients from accessing life-saving drugs.
The report by the Centre for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy in the US says majority of the world”s annual 57 lakh antibiotic-treatable deaths occur in the low and middle income countries where the mortality burden from treatable bacterial infections far exceeds the estimated annual 7 lakh deaths from anti-biotic-resistant infections.
In India, there is one government doctor for every 10,189 persons as against the WHO recommendation of a ratio of 1:1000. It means a deficit of 6 lakh doctors. The nurse-patient ratio is 1:483 implying a shortage of 20 lakh nurses.
