Healthcare majors to infuse life into lagging medical education

Font Size

Print

Feedback

Email

Discuss

Related Articles

Max India approves JV with UK-based firm

New Delhi, May 12: lease for the construction of the college. For dental colleges, the requirement is slightly less restrictive— only an area of 5 acres is required for a minimum period of 30 years.

The healthcare majors’ decision to get into construction of medical colleges is expected to give a fillip to the government’s plans to set up 60 new medical colleges and 225 new nursing colleges through the public-private partnership mode besides upgrading existing nursing schools into colleges, strengthening of existing nursing colleges and upgrade and strengthening of existing government medical colleges in the 11th Plan period. According to Apollo Hospitals Group director Shobana Kamineni, “We plan to impart medical education considering the huge shortage of skilled medical professionals in the country. The shortage is acute in super specialities.” She, however, declined to elaborate on the number of medical colleges or the investment the group plans to make.

A recently released report of the Planning Commission on services sector puts the number of doctors registered by different state councils at 6, 68,131 in 2006, giving a doctor-to-population ratio of 60:1,00,000. Although this is better than the standard set for India by the Bhore Committee just after independence (50:1,00,000), it is well short of the ratio prevalent in developed countries like Australia (249.1), Canada (209.1), United Kingdom (166.5) and the US (548.9).