Delhi: Satyendra Jain demanding doubling of PG seats

Delhi Health Minister, Satyendra Jain has recently expressed his desire to double the PG medical seats in government medical colleges and hospitals. Taking a dig at MCI, the minister at a recent health conference held in Delhi also implied that the medical education system is getting ruined under MCI supervision. His comments were however directly related to the issue of increasing PG medical education seats in India.

"There is an organisation in this country, whose name is MCI. Their work is to ruin the medical education system of this country. And they are doing it very carefully and very well. They don't want to increase the number of PG seats," said Jain while speaking at a conference in Delhi on Saturday.

However, he is still pinning his hopes from MCI. The Medical Council of India (MCI) should without any further delay just double, if not triple, the postgraduate seats in government medical colleges and hospitals, he added.

It may be noted that his comments coincide with the recent news in the media that the Medical Council of India, the apex medical regulator of the country, may just meet its end, as the government appointed committee four-member committee headed by NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya is ready to submit its recommendations. It is likely to be replaced by another regulatory body. Another important point to note is that no existing member of the council is expected to be considered for the new medical education commission. All this is being done with a purpose to boost and build a new base for medical education system in India.

At present, Jain's comments seem to be presented at just the right time. He has further implied that MCI should seriously consider doubling the number of PG medical seats offered at the GMCs, without really demanding anything.

"Because in our government hospitals, there are already two patients on one bed. But I know there is vested interest involved and they will never do it. They are supporting only private medical colleges which charge Rs 1 crore to Rs 5 crore for one medical PG seat."

In addition, he also confirmed that the Delhi government will soon begin offering DNB courses with the support of the National Board of Examination (NBE). These courses will be offered in broad specialities like paediatrics, medicine, surgery, orthopaedics, obstetrics & gynaecology and anaesthesia in all major district hospitals.

Talking about the public private partnership (PPP) model, the minister said, "Currently, there is only one MRI in the Delhi government hospitals. But we have already issued tenders for five MRI and 10 CT Scan machines. The cost of doing one MRI in Delhi government hospital currently is around Rs 25,000. So, we have realised we cannot do everything efficiently on our own and we will go for PPP wherever necessary. Even lab tests will be done through private partners. We will just focus on our core competencies like providing patient care."