The Union Territory has made massive strides in the field of medical education in recent years, but there is no Director of Medical Education (DME) to coordinate and oversee development in this domain.
Puducherry boasts of eight medical colleges including one run by the government and other institutions specialising in the fields of dentistry, nursing, pharmacology, physiotherapy, ayurveda and Veterinary Sciences to name a few. These colleges offer a total of more than 1100 seats for admission.
Ever since the first medical institution was set up, the Director of Health and Family Welfare has been shouldering the responsibilities of the Director of Medical Education when required.
However with the increasing number of institutions, new guidelines issued by the Medical Council of India (MCI) and directions from Courts following litigations, the need for a dedicated DME has increased manifold. The Director of Health and Family Welfare alone cannot effectively oversee all aspects of medical education over and above his current responsibilities.
Moreover he has no concrete authority except to put up files to the government for action.
The seat-sharing process for MBBS with self-financed medical colleges is one such major task. So far the government has not been able to come out with a policy based on the Supreme Court’s orders in this regard. The government has also not issued an executive order based on the apex court’s order. In several States like Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, the State governments have issued executive orders in this regard, specifying the percentage of seats to be filled by the government and the self-financing colleges.
In the absence of a policy, every year the number of seats to be filled up by the government is decided following several rounds of negotiations. Often this leads to uncertainty and delay in the admission of students, in addition to many seats going unfilled, as certain colleges declare a holiday before the closing date of admissions (September 30) to avoid filling the seats with government-sponsored students.
There has also been a lack of regulation in the admission fees charged by self-financing colleges. Despite the Fee Committee’s guidelines, the colleges continue to overcharge students. This additional fee comprises of medical instruments, medical tours, books, travel, library and so on. Students sponsored by CENTAC often end up in a dilemma when they land in such a situation.
Those who can afford it take admissions, while others opt for engineering or other professional courses. This trend of students opting out leads to several rounds of counselling till the end of the closure date.
Even PG medical seats in self-financing medical institutions have not been filled by government-sponsored students by enforcing the guidelines of MCI. It would be the DME ‘s responsibility to ensure the enforcement of the regulations. However, after moving the file to fill up the seats to the Secretary(Health), his job ends. With government secretaries changing often, it goes into cold storage, till the next year.
Political parties and associations also raise the issue during admission time, but their voices also fall silent and self-financing colleges manage to get away always by giving a few MBBS seats and no PG seats at all.
The DME would play the role of planning medical education and its regulated expansion, identifying the requirements of Puducherry’s students and formulating a policy to regulate admissions. The director would also be involved in granting licenses for new institutions. The DME would also be responsible for fiscal administration. It is reasonable to expect that the existing chaos can be addressed by appointment of a DME.
