BENGALURU: Super specialist doctors in the state do not have a separate pay scale in Karnataka, and are paid the same as medical education teachers. Poor pay is one of the reasons why the department is finding it hard to fill 16-17 MCh (super speciality degree) seats for cardiothoracic surgery in Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences.
At a press meet after inaugurating the three-day 63rd conference of Indian Association of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeons which began here on Thursday, Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil said he had asked the authorities to conduct a second round of counselling to fill vacant MCh seats.
“It is an alarming situation that students are not taking up MCh in cardiothoracic surgery. I have asked Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) to conduct one more round of counselling. Medical tourism in India is thriving because of heart surgery. We have already opened heart centres in Kalaburagi and Mysuru. Next year, it will be opened in Hubbali as well, and all revenue capitals in the state,” Patil said.
Dr Vivek Jawali, head of department of cardiovascular sciences at Fortis Hospital said that around 2.5 lakh surgeries are done in the country but there are only 2,000 surgeons in this specialty, around 150 of whom are in the state.
“Premier institutes like Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology in Thiruvananthapuram are also finding it hard to fill MCh seats in cardiothorasic surgery. One has to do an MBBS, then a three-year MS and then go for MCh. Financial remuneration is very less. By the time he becomes an established surgeon he is 40 years old,” he said. Jawali is a member of an advisory panel to the Medical Council of India and is pressing for permission to allow MBBS students to directly go for MCh after medicine.
RGUHS V-C Dr K S Ravindranath, while speaking at the inauguration of the conference said , “The learning curve is long in this specialty. We had no problem in filling DM Cardiology seats that were 21 in number last year.”