Union Budget 2025 | High cost of medical education forces students to pursue studies abroad: Economic Survey

New Delhi: The Economic Survey 2024-25 on Friday flagged the high cost of medical education in India, forcing thousands of students to go to countries like China, Russia and Ukraine for studies and subsequently struggle to get a license for practising.

“The fees remain high—at Rs 60 lakh to one crore or more in the private sector which holds 48 per cent of MBBS seats.

The consequence is that every year thousands of students go abroad to around 50 countries especially those with lower fees such as China, Russia, Ukraine, Philippines and Bangladesh,” says the Survey tabled in the Parliament.

Subsequently, those who return have to sit in the Foreign Medical Graduate examination to get their licenses to practice.

“The very low pass percentage of FMGs in the qualifying exam (16.65 per cent in 2023) indicates sub-par quality of medical education abroad including lack of clinical training,” it notes, highlighting the areas of opportunity for the government to make medical education more affordable.

“Medical education abroad entails hardships of studying abroad and productive years of youth invested in repeated attempts at exams - the NEET-UG before taking admission, the FMG examination on completing the course and then complete compulsory internships of 12 months in India,” it added.

In recent years, students studying in China and Ukraine had to return to India without completing their courses because of the Covid-19 and conflict situation respectively.

The subsequent regulatory issues in addressing the difficulties faced by such students and the need to maintain standards in allowing them to practice in India has been a challenge and has required interventions of the courts on more than one occasion.

The reality check comes amidst concerns on the availability of doctors and their skewed distribution as most of the medical professions are in major urban localities, leaving the small towns and villages underserved.

“By reducing the cost of medical education, we can contribute to lowering healthcare service costs. If universal coverage is the goal, prioritising cost and equity in medical education will be key to achieving it,” it adds.

There are 13.86 lakh practitioners of modern medicine registered as of July, 2024, and assuming 80 per cent availability, India’s doctor patient ratio currently stands at 1:1263. But the availability of doctors’ is skewed in favour of urban areas with the urban to rural doctor density ratio being 3.8:1.

"The WHO standard norm of 1:1000 seems to be attainable by 2030 with a conservative 50,000 doctors being licensed every year till 2030," the Economic Survey notes, adding that numerical shortage of doctors is no longer an issue, but there are other problematic issues like the affordability.

Union Budget 2025 | Nirmala Sitharaman, who continues to be Finance Minister, will present her record 8th Union Budget this time. While inflation has burnt a hole in the pockets of 'aam janata', reports suggest there might be a tax relief for those making up to Rs 15 lakh per year. Track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analysis only on Deccan Herald. Also follow us on WhatsApp, LinkedIn, X, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.