Medical Colleges In India

Medical education is a hotly debated subject in India these days. Government colleges have not increased in number while new private medical colleges are established each year, many of them with dubious infrastructures and questionable motives. The fact that private colleges make obscene amounts of money and allow rich people who can afford the exorbitant fees to bypass entrance examinations is anathema to many ordinary Indians.

It is hard to argue against the use of entrance examinations for medical college placements in a country with relatively limited opportunities. Candidates selected through this formal assessment process, generally based on a multiple-choice format, answer more questions correctly than those who miss out on placements, with the cut-off grade based on the number of available placements. Entrance examinations for MBBS seats usually assess the applicant`s knowledge in fundamental sciences.

Indian medical education system is one of the largest in the world. Medical colleges in India have rapidly proliferated in the past 25 years, doubling since 1980 for a current total of 422, each associated with university, producing 52565 MBBS doctors each year.

To achieve doctor- patient ratio, Indian Government is emphasizing to increase admission and training of medical students. One third of these doctors leave India every year for residency training and/or practice abroad. The quality of Indian medical education and of physicians it produces therefore has implications for entire world. An exploding number of medical colleges; a skewed distribution of these around the country; devaluation of merit in admission, particularly in private institutions; increasing capitation fees; admission of suboptimal quality of students with poor motivation; an alarming shortage of medical teachers, with those who exist being untrained in modern teaching learning technology; great shortage of patients, clinical materials in many institutions; outdated curriculum;a less than desirable evaluation system and poor internship supervision all contribute to this downhill trend. Accreditation by Medical Council of India (MCI) emphasizes documentation of infrastructure.