Recently, a report came from the National Health Profile 2018. According to the report for every one doctor in the country, there are on average 11,082 patients. While WHO recommends one doctor for around 1,000 patients, the average of India is more than ten times. The highest number of patients in Bihar followed by Uttar Pradesh. The healthcare crisis in India has been a long-standing issue and there is no solution out.
This year more than 15 lakhs students gave the medical entrance exam -NEET for merely 30,455 seats in the state-run institutions and around 36,165 seats in private medical colleges for MBBS. The average fees for private institutions are 18 lakh per annum which increases yearly. The huge amount of fees in private colleges thus make it only rich people’s affair. The competition for getting into government colleges is cut throat and every year competition increases. While the upper age limit for neet was being considered to be taken 25 years, with massive protests, SC relaxed the age limit.
This means that 17-year-old students compete with 25-year-old students with preference being given to older students. A lot of students feel that the pressure is really huge and there have been cases recorded of suicides by students. There have been continuous demands to increase the seats in the government colleges and at the same time reduce the fees of private run colleges. The competition in postgraduate medical colleges is much more than that in MBBS. Because of various cheating and reported leaks of papers in the past, a lot of measures have been taken like stringent checking before the exam. A lot of students drop again and again for preparing for medical exams and thus after a few years are forced to do the same because there isn’t any way out. A lot of students have been demanding measures to improve the health care crisis, a lot needs to be done from the base.
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