At the end of three rounds of counselling on Sunday, as many as 24 seats in postgraduate courses in non-clinical specialties remained vacant in self-financing medical colleges.
Of the 167 seats in various specialties, 121 were taken. The vacant seats would be returned to the colleges, Medical Education Selection Committee officials said.
Specialties such as anatomy and physiology had the largest number of vacancies with nine and seven unfilled seats. Biochemistry with five seats, pharmacology with two seats and microbiology with one seat followed.
Not lucrative
For several decades now, students have shunned non-clinical courses as they are not as lucrative as clinical courses. Though non-clinical courses form the basis of medical education and a student must study them to qualify as a doctor, little attention is paid to the issue even by the Medical Council of India, say former professors.
Even the fact that self-financing colleges do not demand capitation fee for non-clinical courses does not lure students. “Candidates pay only Rs. 25,000 in government medical colleges. But, in self-financing colleges, the fee is higher, and with no job opportunities students have no interest,” says V. Dekal, a forensic medicine expert attached to Saveetha University.
MCI reduces teachers
Some years ago, realising the dearth of teachers in non-clinical subjects, the MCI altered the norms, reducing the number of teachers required. It also increased the retirement age for teachers from 65 to 70 years, thus blocking job opportunities for youngsters, he says.
“Earlier non-clinical specialists were paid higher salaries. They also were promoted within six years as against clinicians who waited for a dozen years or more. Now, the salary structures and intervals between promotions are the same,” says a former professor of pharmacology with a government medical college. According to him, the government could attract candidates with better perks and travel allowances.
Though teaching happens mostly in tertiary care hospitals, even teacher positions have not come by as no new private college has come up in the State since 2008.
The way forward would be to appoint non-clinical specialists in district headquarters hospitals to run the departments. This will not only improve the speciality but will also provide space for non-clinical specialisations to grow.
Of the 167 seats in various specialties, 121 were taken. The vacant seats would be returned to the colleges, Medical Education Selection Committee officials said.
Specialties such as anatomy and physiology had the largest number of vacancies with nine and seven unfilled seats. Biochemistry with five seats, pharmacology with two seats and microbiology with one seat followed.
Not lucrative
For several decades now, students have shunned non-clinical courses as they are not as lucrative as clinical courses. Though non-clinical courses form the basis of medical education and a student must study them to qualify as a doctor, little attention is paid to the issue even by the Medical Council of India, say former professors.
Even the fact that self-financing colleges do not demand capitation fee for non-clinical courses does not lure students. “Candidates pay only Rs. 25,000 in government medical colleges. But, in self-financing colleges, the fee is higher, and with no job opportunities students have no interest,” says V. Dekal, a forensic medicine expert attached to Saveetha University.
MCI reduces teachers
Some years ago, realising the dearth of teachers in non-clinical subjects, the MCI altered the norms, reducing the number of teachers required. It also increased the retirement age for teachers from 65 to 70 years, thus blocking job opportunities for youngsters, he says.
“Earlier non-clinical specialists were paid higher salaries. They also were promoted within six years as against clinicians who waited for a dozen years or more. Now, the salary structures and intervals between promotions are the same,” says a former professor of pharmacology with a government medical college. According to him, the government could attract candidates with better perks and travel allowances.
Though teaching happens mostly in tertiary care hospitals, even teacher positions have not come by as no new private college has come up in the State since 2008.
The way forward would be to appoint non-clinical specialists in district headquarters hospitals to run the departments. This will not only improve the speciality but will also provide space for non-clinical specialisations to grow.
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