'We'll soon have hospitals without doctors'

How is the skewed ratio between undergraduate and postgraduate medical seats affecting access to healthcare?

India has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world. Of the 28 million babies born every year, 5-6 million are delivered by Caesarean section. The women need gynaecologists to enable smooth delivery. Today, many women die during childbirth because there aren't enough doctors around to treat them. We need 1.5 lakh gynaecologists but have just 40,000. The US has 5,000 postgraduate seats while India has just 450. There's a shortage of radiologists, who are so crucial for diagnosing any ailment even in cities.

Why this restriction?

We in India believe that if we increase the number of seats, the value or quality will go down. But that's not true. Therefore, we've restricted the number of postgraduate seats and deprived lakhs of MBBS doctors from becoming specialists, which is dangerous for the healthcare system in India. If we don't rectify the ratio now, there will be hospitals without doctors in our Tier 2 cities too.

What's the solution?

The government must tell the Medical Council of India to increase the number of PG seats significantly. When there are thousands of medical graduates who want to pursue specialization and spend years preparing for that coveted PG seat, why are we depriving them and losing them to other countries?

LAST CHANCE TO ATTEND A COUNSELLING THIS YEAR-KERALA

NOTIFICATION 

POST GRADUATE MEDICAL DEGREE / DIPLOMA COURSES, KERALA - 2013

LAST ROUND OF COUNSELLING TO FILL UP THE LEFT OVER STATE QUOTA 

AND SURRENDERED ALL INDIA QUOTA SEATS 

 The last and final round of counseling to fill up the vacant Government Quota seats, 

State Quota seats which became vacant consequent to the fourth round of All India 

Counselling and Surrendered All India Quota seats in P G Medical courses - 2013 under 

Government/Self Financing colleges will be conducted on 29.08.2013 (Thursday) at 

Dr. C O Karunakaran Memorial auditorium near Regional Cancer Centre, Medical College 

campus, Thiruvananthapuram. The counseling will be manual and subject to the conditions 

and stipulations specified in G.O.(Rt) No. 3006/2013/H&FWD dated 26.08.2013. The 

counseling to the General Quota seats will be based on the various merit and category lists 

published by the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations and that to the Service Quota 

seats will be based on the seniority-wise lists of service candidates prepared by the Heads 

of Departments concerned. The allotment to the Health Service Quota seats will be as per 

the modified seniority-wise list prepared by the Director of Health Services in accordance 

with the verdict of the Hon’ble High Court of Kerala dated. 30.07.2013 in WP(C) 

No.13330/2013 and connected cases. 

The service candidates and SC/ST candidates are directed to report to the venue of 

the personal counseling at 9.30 am on 29.08.2013. The General Quota candidates are 

directed to report to the venue of the personal counseling at 11.30 am on 29.08.2013. 

The candidates who have already taken admission under All India Quota and holding 

All India Quota seat at present are not allowed to attend the counseling. 

The candidates coming from the Self Financing Medical Colleges to attend the 

counseling shall produce all their original certificates, NOC and necessary affidavits stating 

that the Self financing Medical College Management is willing to admit candidates allotted 

by the CEE from the Government Merit list in the resultant vacancies. 

The candidates who are allotted a subject in the counseling and do not join the 

course on any reason shall be liable to pay the liquidated damages as per the conditions in 

the prospectus. 

No candidates who have already admitted in Government Medical Colleges are 

allowed to move to another Government Medical College in the same subject 

No transfer from one Self Financing Medical College to another shall be allowed. 

The vacancies created at the time of allotment will be filled up then and there itself 

according to merit and eligibility. 

The candidates who get allotment will be issued with an allotment memo and the 

fee to be paid will be shown in the memo. This amount of fee should be paid in the college 

concerned. 

All details related to the allotment process are available on the website 

www.cee.kerala.gov.in. 

Help Line Numbers: 0471 2339101, 2339102, 2339103, and 2339104

Over 200 medicos participate in ‘Save the doctor’ movement

Seeking equalisation of UG and PG seats in medical courses, more than 200 medicos staged a rally in the city on Monday.

This was part of the nation-wide ‘Save the Doctor’ movement, wherein similar rallies were taken out in different parts of the country in support of their demands.

Students and doctors walked from JK Grounds to Mysore Medical College and Research Institute, and from there to Gandhi Square.

Disparity

The rationale behind the rally, as explained by the organisers, is that India lacked specialist doctors due to inadequate number of PG seats in medical institutions.

It was argued that though India had the highest number of medical institutions, the disparity in the number of seats for UG and PG courses was too high. The participants were also opposed to the rural postings made mandatory and wanted it clubbed with the PG internship.

They expressed fears that if the scenario continued unchanged then India may have to rope in experts from other countries to fill the gap.

As against nearly 50,000 UG seats, there were only 12,000 seats for PG courses for which about 90,000 students compete, said organisers.

The movement is supported by Indian Medical Association and Association of Healthcare Providers.