MCI has permitted an increase 10,000 MBBS seats

Aiming to improve the abysmal doctor-patient ratio in India, the Medical Council of India (MCI) has permitted an increase of nearly 10,000 MBBS seats in medical colleges from this year.

This means, after five to six years, the country will produce an additional 10,000 doctors, taking the yearly output to 45,000 from the present 35,000 MBBS passouts.

MCI's Board of Governors, led by chairman Shiv Kumar Sarin, also accorded sanction for 66 new medical colleges. This was possible after MCI downsized the land requirement for starting a new medical college from the earlier stipulation of 25 acres to 10 acres. But the building size on the 10 acres need not be any smaller than the one that was permitted to be built on 25 acres. The logic — it is difficult for organisations to find 25 acres in a township or a metropolitan city.

To further increase the number of doctors available in remote and far flung areas, the Board has started discussions with Army, Railways and Employees State Insurance Corporation to start new medical colleges as they have vast tracts of land at their disposal.

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Courtesy: Times of India