"MBBS is the New BTech": Pic with Hundreds of Eligible Doctors Competing for 20 Posts goes Viral

New Delhi: A picture posted by a doctor showing a huge crowd at Delhi State Cancer Institute (GTB Hospital) has revealed that while hundreds of medical graduates are available in the country, only a few jobs are available in contrast.

Sharing the image on Twitter, Dr. Chauhan, the National Zonal Coordinator of Indian Medical Association Medical Students' Network (IMA-MSN) claimed that more than 500 doctors were competing for a limited number of 20 vacant posts of Non-Academic Junior Residency.

Referring to the situation, Dr. Chauhan mentioned in the Tweet, "MBBS is the New BTech. Yes this is the condition when you try to get JOB after passing MBBS."

Soon the Tweet went viral and several doctors expressed their opinion in this regard. While some of the users agreed that there are no scarcity of doctors in India, several users pointed out that situation like this is very common in Delhi since the JRs get the highest salary there. Some of the users also argued that the smaller cities across the country are still dealing with shortage of doctors.

"Its very common in Delhi as the Junior Resident salary is highest in Delhi as compared to other parts of the country.Some doctors even pay bribe to get those jobs," wrote a user.

Another Twitter user argued that the situation is only like that in Delhi and mentioned, "Sir I personally believe this job scenario is in Delhi. Reason is because of good pay and opportunity to learn. Rest of India there are still places we here even Mbbs doctors haven’t reached. It’s the inequitable distribution of doctors that Is worrisome."

Also Read: India struggling with shortage of doctors amid surge in healthcare demands

"Most of them are joining it for a temporary income source to stay in Delhi for PG preparation. And JR stipend in Delhi is approx 80K to 90k, that's why more number of students apply in Delhi hospitals JR vacancy," read another Tweet.

Pointing out that there are still a scarcity of doctors across the country, another user mentioned, "Just because of Salaries There are so many hospitals where there is literally acutely chronic shortage of doctors and med staff Our Medicine is not at all comparable to any degree or job in this world, Yet most persecuted community in India only."

Opining that smaller towns are still reeling under the shortage of doctors, a Twitter user added, "no, it's not. Maybe they want an easy life of city. just travel around UP, bihar small towns & u will know the shortage of doctors in smaal Towns. 80% rural or towns population need to travel to district city for treatment."

However, some of the users supported the opinion expressed by Dr. Chauhan. "'150 medical Colleges are verge of getting derecognised'. Similar kind of news were there 10 years back for enginnering colleges. Deja Vu!" a doctor pointed out in a Tweet.

Agreeing that there are too many doctors available for lesser number of jobs in the cities, a doctor added, "Yes, what Indians still don't understand is that it's a Demand- Supply problem currently in India. There are too many doctors for too little jobs in the cities, as a result they can't demand any high salary like their counterparts in the IT sector. There are no campus placements."

"Over 20 lakh medical students register for NEET UG every year and we have just a little over 1 lakh MBBS seats in the country. That’s a huge demand and supply mismatch. The struggle continues even after passing MBBS," read another Tweet.

Claiming that there is no scarcity of doctors in the country, another doctor mentioned in a Tweet, "Yes Dhruv! This is the state of our doctors when whole time we keep hearing about the scarcity of doctors. There is NO scarcity of doctors- period. Doctors are jobless. Create jobs."

Meanwhile, according to the information shared by MoS Health Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar last year, altogether 13,08,009 registered allopathic doctors, 5.65 lakh AYUSH practitioners, 34.33 registered nursing personnel, and 13 lakh allied and healthcare professionals are catering to the Healthcare services in India.

Claiming that the doctor-population ratio is far better in India than the standard set by WHO, MoS Health had mentioned, "Assuming 80% availability of registered allopathic doctors and 5.65 lakh AYUSH doctors, the doctor-population ratio in the country is 1:834 which is better than the WHO standard of 1:1000."

Also Read: With 13.08 lakh Allopathy, 5.65 lakh AYUSH Doctors, India's Doctor population ratio better than WHO standard: Health Ministry data