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Where are we going - Medical Education!

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Doctor - कहे तो "धरती का भगवान" is one of the prestigious profession to pursue in India. This is evident with the fact that lakhs of students prepare for NEET every year to get into MBBS courses , which will ultimately make you a doctor and you will get the title 'Dr.' before your name, which is the dream come true for many. 

Cracking NEET exam, the path to becoming a doctor was not a piece of cake in India though specially a few years ago. It is rated one of the toughest 10 entrance exams by coaching Byju. And if you ask me, it ranks in top 5, 😅. Yes this is a fact, because looking at the present scenario not every medical aspirant get a seat in India and they are forced to either take a management seat by paying hefty fees or pursue the course in foreign countries and return back as FMGs. 
 
However the scenario of Medical Education is changing rapidly.   
 

India is producing more doctors than ever before, with MBBS seats rising sharply and the government planning another major expansion of undergraduate and postgraduate medical seats. While this expansion is necessary to address the country’s healthcare needs, the post questions whether increasing the number of seats is being matched by adequate quality of training, clinical exposure, postgraduate opportunities and employment pathways.

 

The situation in Rajasthan and across India illustrates the paradox. Despite intense competition for medical education, thousands of MBBS seats remain vacant. At the same time, many graduates face another difficult competition after MBBS: securing a desirable postgraduate seat. The mismatch is not simply about the number of PG seats, but also their specialty, location, fees, infrastructure, stipend, workload and future prospects. This can leave young doctors facing underemployment or uncertain career pathways even after completing a long and demanding MBBS journey.

 

An even bigger contradiction exists in rural healthcare. India can simultaneously have an increasing number of doctors and severe shortages of doctors in underserved areas. Rural CHCs continue to have substantial specialist vacancies despite the dramatic growth in medical education capacity. The problem, therefore, is not merely how many doctors India produces, but where they practise and whether the healthcare infrastructure can support them.

 

A new medical college requires much more than buildings and seats—it needs experienced faculty, adequate patients, laboratories, equipment, clinical workload and a functioning teaching hospital. Expansion without these essentials could increase capacity without necessarily improving the quality of doctors produced. (QuirkyMD)

 

Finally, the economics of medical education is changing. Rising fees, management and NRI seats can make medical education increasingly dependent on a family's ability to pay. The concern is not that paid education is inherently wrong, but whether increasing costs could reduce access for talented students from ordinary socioeconomic backgrounds. (QuirkyMD)

 

The central message is simple: a medical seat is not a doctor. India needs more doctors, but it also needs better-trained doctors, meaningful career opportunities and a more equitable distribution of doctors. The real questions are: Where should doctors be? How should they be trained? And what happens to them after MBBS? Until these questions are addressed, increasing the number of seats may represent progress on paper without necessarily solving the problems faced by patients or young doctors. 

 

Read the full post on QuirkyMD

 
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