‘Focus on creating more PG seats than adding MBBS seats’

Chennai: Tamil Nadu must focus on creating post-graduate and super-specialty seats instead of adding more MBBS seats in new districts, the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association said. In an appeal to the state, the association president Dr K Senthil has said that the state should stop granting permission to new undergraduate medical colleges, be it private or public.

With more than 70 medical colleges – government and private – the state has more than 10,000 MBBS seats, the highest in the country. “There are more than 1.8 lakh doctors registered in Tamil Nadu and among them 1.5 lakh are still practicing. Every year 10,000 MBBS graduates come for fresh registration in addition to around 1,500 foreign medical graduates,” he said. The association estimates that in the next ten years, TN will have 1 doctor for every 350 people. “The recommended ratio of doctors is only 1:1000 and we already have 1 per 600. But, healthcare services are not optimal. That’s because doctors are not evenly distributed across the state,” he said. “Most doctors are in cities. Even within the city, there is a need for cardiologists, nephrologists, psychiatrists, vascular surgeons, and neurosurgeons,” Dr Senthil said. Lack of adequate specialists is delaying diagnosis and treatment leading to complications and early death, he said.

Over the weekend, the association will meet health minister Ma Subramanian to insist on the need for using funds the state set aside for the six proposed medical colleges – in Perambalur, Mayiladuthurai, Tirupattur, Ranipet, Kancheepuram and Kallakurichi – to be used for increasing PG and super specialty seats in medical colleges and district headquarters hospitals.

The Tamil Nadu Medical Council had passed a resolution urging the state not to start new colleges two years ago when they got permission for eleven new government medical colleges under the centrally sponsored scheme. The state, however, said it wants at least one medical college hospital – a tertiary care facility – in every district. Experts also recommend an increase in seats for medical and paramedical courses. Several doctors’ bodies have rallied behind the government doctors’ association.