‘Raising medical college staff strength not enough’

HYDERABAD: The Medical Council of India’s decision to increase the teacher-student ratio in medical colleges has garnered a mixed response from doctors and experts in the field. The MCI has decided to increase the ratio from 1:2 to 1:3 for professors and from 1:1 to 1:2 in the case of associate professors to overcome the shortage of teaching faculty in medical colleges. As per its estimates, nearly 30% of faculty positions in medical colleges in TS are lying vacant.

Dr T Narasinga Reddy, state president of Indian Medical Association, is of the view that the infrastructure in government colleges and the number of teachers are disproportionate and, despite facilities in these colleges, not enough seats are offered because of the faculty shortage.

On August 11 the MCI denied permission to Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Adilabad, to offer MBBS course, primarily on account of shortage of teaching faculty. “TS has 18,000 seats for undergraduate courses and only 3,000 for PG courses. Almost 15,000 students never go for a higher degree. By increasing the teacher-student ratio, the number of PG seats will go up by three or four times and it will encourage students to study post-graduate courses, which, in turn, will improve the quality of healthcare and the number of doctors in the country,” said Reddy.

“An increase in the number of seats is welcome. At OGH, for instance, the number of seats has gone up from 20 to 40 but the infrastructure has not increased in the same proportion. There are still only two operation tables as there were when the number of students was 20,” said Dr Vijender, Telangana State Junior Doctors Association.