Medical College Boom May Leave Madhya Pradesh With A Doctor Glut
· Free Press Journal
Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): With 35 medical colleges already operational and 11 more in the pipeline, Madhya Pradesh is set to produce more doctors. Medical experts, however, warn that the rapid expansion could create a surplus of general physicians, mirroring the oversupply of engineering graduates after the mushrooming of engineering colleges in the state.
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They also say the real challenge is the uneven distribution of doctors, with many areas continuing to face shortages despite rising numbers.
The government plans to open one medical college in every district to address the shortage of specialists. However, experts say increasing the number of medical colleges alone will not solve the problem unless doctors are distributed more evenly across the state.
They warn that the number of general physicians could eventually exceed demand. There are 35 medical colleges in Madhya Pradesh. Around 5,700 MBBS graduates and more than 2,000 specialists are produced every year in the state. Of the MBBS graduates, around 2,700 are from private medical colleges, while more than 3,000 graduate from government medical colleges.
Medical colleges at Katni, Panna, Bhind, Morena, Khargone, Ashoknagar, Guna, Balaghat, Tikamgarh, Sidhi and Shajapur are in the pipeline under the state government's expansion plan over the next five to seven years. Medical colleges at Dhar and Betul are being developed under the public-private partnership (PPP) model.
According to the Madhya Pradesh Medical Council, there are around 65,000 registered MBBS doctors in the state. With a population of about 8.5 crore, the doctor-population ratio in Madhya Pradesh is around 1:1,307. The national doctor-population ratio is 1:811.
What experts say
Former NHM director Dr Pankaj Shukla:
"The government is opening new medical colleges to address the shortage of specialists, but it will create a surplus of general physicians in the state similar to what happened with engineering graduates in state. At present, doctors are not uniformly distributed or posted across the state."
Medical Teachers Association president Dr Ramesh Malviya:
"To fulfil the shortage of specialists in the state, the government is randomly opening medical colleges. It is disastrous for the state as it will lead to an oversupply of general physicians, and their condition will be similar to that faced by engineering graduates."
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