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In order to cater to the growing number of medical aspirants there is an immediate need for establishing new medical schools in the country. However, privatisation is a tricky issue, which needs to be handled with care, to ensure the quality of the education is not compromised. Past few years have seen a constant growth in privatisation of medical education in India. This simply means that there are more private medical institutions than ever which are offering degrees in medical science to aspirants. Although, privatisation of medical college has seen a world wide boom, India remains the number one country with most number of private medical schools. At last count, the total number of medical colleges in India stood at 335, out of which 187 were private colleges while other 154 are government colleges. These colleges collectively can admit 41, 569 students for MBBS programme. However, compared to lakhs of application received every year for the All India Pre-Medical Test, these seats are not sufficient to fulfil the existing lot. Therefore, there is a strong need to increase the number of seats. As per the latest reports the government has planned to double the number of seats to 80,000 by 2021, which will call for establishing of new government aided institutions as well as private colleges in the country. Reasons of privatisation of the medical education The first private medical college to open in India was Kasturba Medical College in 1953. Also known as Manipal Medical College, this medical school has established itself as an authority amongst all the private medical institutions of the country. It’s been a long time since then and now private medical colleges are more prominent. There are a number of reasons for this sudden boom of private medical schools in the country. India is the second most populous country of the world, with most of its population between the 20 to 30 years age bracket. A lot of these aspire to follow a profession in medical science, which is the reason for increase in demand of new medical schools. To meet this demand, the government is approving more medical institutes than before. Data shows that there has been an addition of 35 colleges in the year 2011-12 and 46 new colleges have been added in the last one year itself, which is a direct consequence of relaxation of norms by Medical Council of India. Also, there is a growing shortage of qualified workforce to cater to such a burgeoning population. Thus, it is almost imperative to establish new colleges so that more talent can be trained to handle this population. India is also a hot destination for medical tourism. This term has been coined to advertise cheaper medical services to foreign patients. This further spurted the growth of medical education in the country. Advantages & Disadvantages of Privatisation The obvious advantage of having more medical college, irrespective of whether it is private or government, is the ability to enhance the access of quality health care to all strata of society. More medical colleges certainly will result in an increase in the number of doctors, thus reducing the doctor: patient ratio and ensuring better service. With new colleges, there will be an increase in employment generation as well and it will promote a healthy competition between the public and private medical institutions, to the benefit of the consumer. However, unchecked privatisation is also not good for the medical fraternity as well as for the society as a whole. Most of the private institutions have money making as the main motive behind opening the institute. Thus, money plays a huge role in all the decisions taken in the college. This is the prime reason behind private medical schools being more costly than their public counterparts. The quality also does not always matches the promises that these colleges make while taking the money from an aspirant. Therefore, an unchecked growth of privatisation in medical education can result in highly undesirable results. Author Bio Saurabh Tyagi is an expert author, with an experience of over 4 years in writing content. He loves to write on topics related to career, education, real estate, Dental Colleges in Hyderabad and technology. A gadget freak and social media enthusiast, he also keenly follows the latest trends in digital marketing.
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