Doctors criticise Telangana government's 'too little too late' efforts

Hyderabad: The state government’s decision to establish medical colleges in Sangareddy, Jagtial, Kothagudem, Wanaparthy, Mancherial and Mahbubabad districts on Monday has received mixed response from the medical community.

Of several doctors contacted by Deccan Chronicle on Tuesday, some said it was a much-needed decision considering the pressure that medical infrastructure has been facing, especially during the pandemic, while others said the decision was too little too late.

Director of Medical Education Dr Ramesh Reddy said, "The six medical colleges will help create advanced intensive care and emergency facilities, apart from enabling us to deal with disasters and accidents."

Healthcare Reforms Doctors Association-Telangana president Dr Mahesh Kumar, however, said the focus of the government should have been on primary and secondary healthcare centres. He maintained that opening more medical colleges would not solve medical deficiencies existing within the community.

"Primary healthcare centres and area hospitals are in a shambles because the medical community and government are not focusing on them. The level of medical teaching has gone down by several notches too. Just setting up buildings will not improve health infrastructure", Dr Kumar pointed out.

Dr Vijay Mohan, professor with the Osmania Medical College, said there was a need to boost the morale of medical students as well as teachers. He underlined that facilities at medical colleges and curriculum have to be improved to enable students learn and perform better in the face of a medical crises like the one country is facing since the past two years.

A government sector doctor in Hyderabad, who wished to remain anonymous, was not convinced. “The announcement is just an attempt to take the blame away from the government over its mismanagement of Coronavirus crises.” the doctor remarked.

"Can anyone guarantee that the medical colleges will start admissions from the next academic year? At a time when the medical fraternity is facing the most difficult times in decades, in addition to receiving poor pay, what good will another college do? The crunch being faced is now. We cannot wait for another five or six years for help," another doctor remarked.