PG medical seat crunch ails doctors

In medical colleges all over India, there are 47,600 MBBS and 12,000 PG degree and 10,500 PG diploma seats. As per the data for 2014-15, Andhra Pradesh has 3,750 MBBS seats in 26 medical colleges while Telangana has 2,950 MBBS seats in 20 medical colleges. Among them, 4,400 students and their seniors, who want to get PG degrees, will add to the next batch’s competition, resulting in 14,000 students competing for 2,499 seats in both states.

The PG course has clinical and non-clinical subjects. The clinical subjects have greater demand and some students wait for a better rank and try year after year.

Dr R. Radhika, a PG medico at Kakinada said, “To lead a decent life and settle in life, a doctor requires to at least have a PG degree. The competition for the seats is very high and I spent two years for preparations.”

As per the rules of MCI, colleges with more professors and infrastructure get more PG seats. Students, meanwhile, blame the government for not recruiting enough staff and providing infrastructure in the colleges.

A group of doctors in the country have initiated a campaign to “Save the Doctors”, who are ending up only as “graduates”. They demand more PG seats and are writing to the Union health minister.

Officials, however, do not see a need for increasing the number of PG seats in the near future.

Dr V. Chitta Ranjan, who has been preparing for the PG entrance test in Siddhartha Medical College for more than a year said, “I worked for two years in a hospital and saw that there was no value for just an MBBS doctor. Now-a-days, everyone wants to consult a specialist.”

Dr P. Kranti Kumar, a PG medico said, “All states in India except Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Jammu & Kashmir have reserved seats for students from other states when they qualify in All India PG Medical Entrance Test. The government should make arrangement for the provision now and let our students get seats in other states also. This will save our years.”