Government urged to improve PG medical education

New Delhi: Association of National Board Accredited Institutions (ANBAI) has urged the government to improve and standardise the post-graduate medical education in order to address the shortages of doctors in the country.

The ANBAI, whose focus is to come up with innovative ideas in post-graduate medical teachings, has also said that there is a need to empower every medical staff to take primary-level medical decisions to bolster the healthcare system.

"Healthcare is the second largest industry in the world. Yet, India has approximately 300 medical colleges producing 30,000-35,000 graduates every year, while there is a need for 500 new medical colleges, producing one million doctors every year," said Devi Shetty, Chairman, Narayana Health.

Speaking at the annual general meeting of the ANBAI, Shetty also urged the government to increase the payment of the medical staffs in every hospital, which would help them to reach more and more people and provide health services.

H.S. Chhabra, Medical Director of Indian Spinal Injuries Centre and the Secretary of the ANBAI said, "Through ANBAI we will continue to encourage innovative ideas in post-graduate medical teaching. The organisation uplifts the standards of the students, taking them to an international level."

Currently, one woman dies in childbirth every 10 minutes, three lakh newborns die the day they are born while 1.2 million die before they reach the age of one.

"The unequal distribution of care, in terms of urban and rural populations is a worry, especially when it comes to the shortage of specialists. By increasing the number of postgraduate seats, if we can saturate the cities, there will be no choice but for doctors to go into smaller towns and villages," said ANBAI President Alexander Thomas.

According to a study published in British Medical Journal, India has one government doctor for 11,528 people and one nurse for every 483 people, while as per the guidelines of World Health Organization there should be one doctor for every 1,000 people.