HYDERABAD: An increase in the number of medical colleges and subsequent increase in MBBS seats in Telangana are on the cards. This means that there are more number of seats up for grabs for the students, who are working hard, preparing for NEET-2019.
The State has 1,150 MBBS seats and the number might go up by another 300, as and when the Medical Council of India (MCI) clears the proposed medical colleges in Nalgonda and Suryapet. This is apart from the two medical colleges in Mahbubnagar and Siddipet, which have already received the required permissions.
Director of Medical Education Dr K Ramesh Reddy said that the State was aiming to reach the World Health Organisation standard of doctor-population ratio.“As per WHO, the ratio is supposed to be one doctor for a thousand people. We may reach this target in the next few years if the number of seats goes up,” he said.
Doctors’ associations and activists, however, claim that neither the infrastructure nor the faculty is ready for an increase in students.“Increasing the number of seats is definitely going to affect the quality of education, especially in the government medical colleges,” claims Dr PS Vijayendra Goud, president of Telangana Junior Doctors Association.
He rues that though the first batch at AIIMS Bibinagar would start from the 2019 -20 academic year, the infrastructure is not in place. “The students will be placed in the Osmania Medical College,” he said.
“Similarly, the existing infrastructure in the State’s medical colleges is in shambles, and that needs to be changed. We do not even have sufficient faculty in the government medical colleges for the existing pool of students. Seats are also being increased in private medical colleges. But subjects as basic as anatomy cannot be properly taught, as there is a shortage of cadavers for the practical classes,” he further added.