3 more med colleges to come up in coastal, tribal districts
MCI Technical Panel Gives Go-Ahead
Julie Mariappan & Pushpa Narayan TNN
Chennai:19.11.2019
Three more medical colleges are likely to come up in the coastal and tribal belt of the state, in addition to the six colleges approved by the Medical Council of India in October.
The technical committee of the apex regulatory body has given the green signal for colleges in Nagappattinam, Tiruvallur and Krishnagiri districts. The state will add 450 more MBBS seats once the empowered committee gives its nod. The meeting with the empowered committee will be held next week. Tamil Nadu health department officials said they would be able to add 1,350 more medical seats within the next two years.
In August, the cabinet committee on economic affairs had approved setting up of 75 government medical colleges by 2021-22. The Centre also offered to partially fund the project as it wanted to increase the number of medical colleges in the country. Tamil Nadu, which currently has 24 medical colleges, proposed new colleges in six unserved areas along with a justification on the need for a college in the areas, the land and the state’s willingness to provide the remaining funds to set up the colleges. It got a nod for all the six colleges in Ramanathapuram, Virudhunagar, the Nilgiris, Dindigul, Tirupur and Namakkal.
The state then applied for three more colleges. Before the state health secretary Beela Rajesh appeared before the technical committee, the state submitted several documents to show that it was keen on having at least one medical college in every district. The state also told the committee that it has already sanctioned ₹600 crore for the construction of the six new colleges without waiting for funds from the centre. “For the three new colleges, the proposals were sent on the instruction of the chief minister. We also had papers that showed the land allotted for these colleges. This was more than what the technical committee had demanded. Last time, we did this only after the technical committee’s approval. We also had justifications for each college in the respective district,” said a senior health department official.
For instance, the state said the coastal district of Nagapattinam had a high population of fishermen and was prone to be hit by cyclones and tsunamis. It also had at least two major tourists destinations – the Velankani Church and the Nagur Dargah. For Krishnagiri, officials pointed out how maternal mortality in the district was high compared to the state average along with the statistics on its high tribal population. They also showed how the district was prone to road accidents because of long stretches of national highways. They faced the biggest challenge when they were asked to convince why the state needs a college in Tiruvallur when its neighbour and state capital Chennai has four. “Although it is about 50km away from Chennai, travel time can sometimes go up to three hours,” officials said. The committee has now sent the papers to the empowered committee for further scrutiny.
Last week, the Tamil Nadu Medical Council urged the Medical Council of India and the state government not to start any more medical colleges. The council said that Tamil Nadu has one doctor for 709 people against the standard 1:1000 prescribed by the World Health Organisation. With the existing number of seats, the number of doctors in Tamil Nadu will double to 2.02 lakh by 2035, at a time when population growth is slowing down. The estimated population in 2015 will be just 13 crore, as against the present 8.15 crore, it argued. But state health officials said increase in seats will mean recruitment of more doctors, promotions for many senior doctors who can’t be promoted currently due to lack of vacancy. “A college with 150 seats will need at least 300 faculty members. The medical recruitment board will soon be one of the busiest hiring agencies,” the official said.
MCI Technical Panel Gives Go-Ahead
Julie Mariappan & Pushpa Narayan TNN
Chennai:19.11.2019
Three more medical colleges are likely to come up in the coastal and tribal belt of the state, in addition to the six colleges approved by the Medical Council of India in October.
The technical committee of the apex regulatory body has given the green signal for colleges in Nagappattinam, Tiruvallur and Krishnagiri districts. The state will add 450 more MBBS seats once the empowered committee gives its nod. The meeting with the empowered committee will be held next week. Tamil Nadu health department officials said they would be able to add 1,350 more medical seats within the next two years.
In August, the cabinet committee on economic affairs had approved setting up of 75 government medical colleges by 2021-22. The Centre also offered to partially fund the project as it wanted to increase the number of medical colleges in the country. Tamil Nadu, which currently has 24 medical colleges, proposed new colleges in six unserved areas along with a justification on the need for a college in the areas, the land and the state’s willingness to provide the remaining funds to set up the colleges. It got a nod for all the six colleges in Ramanathapuram, Virudhunagar, the Nilgiris, Dindigul, Tirupur and Namakkal.
The state then applied for three more colleges. Before the state health secretary Beela Rajesh appeared before the technical committee, the state submitted several documents to show that it was keen on having at least one medical college in every district. The state also told the committee that it has already sanctioned ₹600 crore for the construction of the six new colleges without waiting for funds from the centre. “For the three new colleges, the proposals were sent on the instruction of the chief minister. We also had papers that showed the land allotted for these colleges. This was more than what the technical committee had demanded. Last time, we did this only after the technical committee’s approval. We also had justifications for each college in the respective district,” said a senior health department official.
For instance, the state said the coastal district of Nagapattinam had a high population of fishermen and was prone to be hit by cyclones and tsunamis. It also had at least two major tourists destinations – the Velankani Church and the Nagur Dargah. For Krishnagiri, officials pointed out how maternal mortality in the district was high compared to the state average along with the statistics on its high tribal population. They also showed how the district was prone to road accidents because of long stretches of national highways. They faced the biggest challenge when they were asked to convince why the state needs a college in Tiruvallur when its neighbour and state capital Chennai has four. “Although it is about 50km away from Chennai, travel time can sometimes go up to three hours,” officials said. The committee has now sent the papers to the empowered committee for further scrutiny.
Last week, the Tamil Nadu Medical Council urged the Medical Council of India and the state government not to start any more medical colleges. The council said that Tamil Nadu has one doctor for 709 people against the standard 1:1000 prescribed by the World Health Organisation. With the existing number of seats, the number of doctors in Tamil Nadu will double to 2.02 lakh by 2035, at a time when population growth is slowing down. The estimated population in 2015 will be just 13 crore, as against the present 8.15 crore, it argued. But state health officials said increase in seats will mean recruitment of more doctors, promotions for many senior doctors who can’t be promoted currently due to lack of vacancy. “A college with 150 seats will need at least 300 faculty members. The medical recruitment board will soon be one of the busiest hiring agencies,” the official said.
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