Our medical education system is not bothered about National needs. It is primarily concerned about the needs of the city elites to get medical education- broadly needed by city-dwellers or developed countries. That is why MBBS course is immediately followed by Post-graguate courses like M.S. or M.D. The country needs basic doctors- right? We have around 7 lakhs of doctors having a ratio of 6.7/10000 people.Nearly 70% of MBBS graduates from state-owned colleges manage to get admission to Post-graduate courses and immediately they are posted as Resident Medical Officers (RMOs) in the same hospital for their entire period of trainingof 3 years. Thus,while they are qualifying,they have already had full expperience in their specialised branch. But what about the MBBS doctors who wish to or are forced to enter into Basic Doctor's profession--Primary health-care provider, Family physician, General practitioner, are the other names for this group. There is absolutely No Opportunity to get a single day's experience for them-- They are totally neglected. Therefore, there is a self-created shortage of Basic Doctors and those who are available are totally denied any experience in the field of Primary health care.The Hue and Cry about the shotage of doctors is purely PHONY.
The remedy is very simple, indeed. The medical colleges must run Their Own Primery health Centers under the department of Social and Preventive Care and start a training course of 2 or 3 years in General Practice and admit at least 20% of the graduates in this course. The nation will now get qualified and experienced PHC Doctors and they will definitely be willing to go to semi-urben and rural areas-- Provided they are properly paid and treated respectfully. The govt. is ignoring both these ideas and then crying hoarse about non-availability of doctors. There are many more advantages in this scheme but more about it in my next blog
The remedy is very simple, indeed. The medical colleges must run Their Own Primery health Centers under the department of Social and Preventive Care and start a training course of 2 or 3 years in General Practice and admit at least 20% of the graduates in this course. The nation will now get qualified and experienced PHC Doctors and they will definitely be willing to go to semi-urben and rural areas-- Provided they are properly paid and treated respectfully. The govt. is ignoring both these ideas and then crying hoarse about non-availability of doctors. There are many more advantages in this scheme but more about it in my next blog
