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Ukraine crisis: Ashok Gehlot says need to set up more medical colleges in India
Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot said the future of the students, who returned to India due to the Ukraine crisis, needs to kept in mind and a positive decision should be taken on setting up more medical college in India.
JAIPUR: Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot said the Ukraine crisis has presented an opportunity to consider increasing the number of medical colleges and seats in the country.
“The Ukraine crisis has given an opportunity to consider the possibility of the central and the state governments working together to significantly increase the number of medical colleges and medical seats in the country,” the chief minister said.
“The future of thousands of students who have returned to India due to the Ukraine crisis has also become uncertain. In such a situation, keeping in mind the future of these children, a positive decision should be taken,” he added.
Gehlot suggested that the Centre should change the rules of the Medical Council of India so that both government and private sectors can open more medical colleges.
“Thousands of Indians go abroad for studies. Most of these children go to countries such as China, Nepal, Ukraine, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Bangladesh for medical studies because the expenses are less there. But when they return, they have to take the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE). Most of the children (more than 80%) are unable to pass this test and are also deprived of medical practice due to the linguistic and curricular changes. In such a situation, it reduces the value of human resources of the country and all of them also suffer economic loss,” said Gehlot.
He said under the scheme ‘Establishment of new medical colleges attached with existing district referral hospitals,’ the UPA government had started the scheme of opening government medical colleges in every district, which is going on under the current dispensation. During the UPA government, the share of the Center and the states was in the ratio of 75:25, which is now changed and the state share has been increased with 60:40 ratio, he said.
But all the states and the Centre will have to jointly think about whether these medical seats are sufficient. Right now, we are considering only one medical college in a district as sufficient but we cannot be satisfied with it, he said.
Currently, there is an average of one doctor per 1000 people in India, most of them are also located in cities. According to the standards of global organisations, there should be 4 doctors per 1000 people. In view of the increasing population of the country and the possibility of other epidemics being created due to climate change in the future, we also need to increase this number. For this, there is a need to establish a network of medical colleges across the country, he added.
The chief minister said the Centre should have a comprehensive discussion on this issue with all the states so that our children also do not have to go to other countries to study. This will also save the money of our country and the medical systems in the country will also be improved.
