What about jobs, quality of education?- doctors ask as Govt announces additional 10,000 Medical seats in 1 year

New Delhi: Recently, while presenting the Union Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that 75,000 medical seats would be added to the country's seat matrix over the next five years. She also promised that 10,000 additional seats would be added in the medical colleges and hospitals in the next year. While this decision promised opportunities for more medical aspirants to pursue their dreams of becoming doctors, the medical fraternity has expressed mixed reactions to this announcement. 

Even when praising the Government for its efforts to create more medical seats, the doctors have also expressed their concerns over the lack of opportunities for medical graduates. 

Some of the doctors have pointed out that along with increasing the intake capacity in the medical colleges, the Government should also focus on improving the quality of medical education by ensuring that the medical institutes across the country have proper infrastructure and an adequate number of faculties.

Dr Rohan Krishnan, a Health Activist and the Chief Patron of the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) welcomed the decision. However, he also pointed out that the Government should focus on ensuring the quality of medical education.

"I think it's a good step as long as the quality of medical education in the proposed medical colleges where the seats are being increased is maintained. Increasing the number of seats of the MBBS students as per the guidelines is a good option. However, government should also focus on providing jobs opportunities to these MBBS graduates because we are giving a lot of preference on increasing the number of MBBS seats but increasing the number of teaching faculties, research equipment and other formalities should be maintained. So, that is something which is concerning," he said.

Dr. Krishnan further added, "Apart from that, we must focus on the guidelines of the World Health Organisation and if the guidelines are meeting in that category-wise, zone-wise and state-wise, then we should avoid opening colleges in such States and category- for example, I have come to know that in Karnataka they have reached the WHO standards. We should avoid giving permissions and increasing the seats in those colleges so that the equilibrium is maintained and one most important factor that the Government and the National Medical Commission should consider is the teaching quality in these medical colleges and the training in these medical colleges."

He also advised young aspirants who want to become doctors in this country not to choose this profession just because of some misguided ideas. He pointed out the scarcity of jobs available for medical professionals and added, "Whenever you are going to increase seats in any subject, it has to be planned properly, it has to maintain the standard and the equilibrium. Otherwise, it will become difficult. This is going to happen in the field of medicine in the next 10-20 years, the doctors having no jobs because there will be a lot more number of doctors, a lot more number of aspirants and the number of seats. So, this is an alarming situation."

Dr Meet Ghonia, National Secretary of Federation of Resident Doctors' Association (FORDA) has also welcomed the decision to increase the 10,000 medical seats. But he added, "I welcome this move of government to increase availability of Doctors till last village of country. But on same time, we are expecting quality medical education in all Medical Colleges. Seats should be increased more in Government Institutions than private. Only addition of MBBS seats won't be helpful. Addition of PG & SS seats and more government jobs for doctors is also necessary."

"Also Government has to create more post of faculties. We already have very less post of faculties in existing medical colleges. Many posts are vacant also," he added.

Dr. Karan Juneja, the National Co-Convenor of the IMA Junior Doctors' Network, however, opined that such an increase in the number of medical seats was unnecessary. "The Government's focus should be on quality of medical education and not the quality," he added.

"While the addition of 10,000 medical seats is a welcome step towards addressing the growing demand for healthcare professionals, it is equally important to ensure that existing medical colleges have adequate infrastructure, faculty, and clinical exposure. Increasing seats without improving the quality of education and training will not solve the underlying issues in medical education. Before expanding intake capacity, the government must focus on strengthening existing medical institutions, ensuring proper stipends for interns and residents," said Dr. Lakshya Mittal, the President of United Doctors' Front.

"Moreover, the government should also work towards bond-free medical education, as UDF has been consistently advocating. Ensuring fair working conditions, reasonable duty hours, and proper remuneration for doctors should be prioritized along with increasing the number of seats. We urge the authorities to adopt a holistic approach, where both quantity and quality are balanced, to truly strengthen the medical education system in India," he added.

Also Read: 10,000 medical seats in next 1 year, 75,000 in next 5- Check out Union Budget 2025 Health Highlights