New legislation planned to regulate medical education: Patil

The State government is seriously considering a proposal to enact a new legislation for proper and effective regulation of medical education, in tune with changing needs.

Medical Education Minister Dr Sharanprakash Patil disclosed this at the inauguration of alumni meet and Golden Jubilee celebrations of Mahadevappa Rampure Medical College of Hyderabad-Karnataka Education Society, here on Saturday.

Patil, an alumnus of the college, said the need for new legislation has been felt to make medical education offered by the private educational institutions more transparent and non-exploitative. He underlined the need for bringing drastic changes and reforms in the medical education arena to put an end to all kinds of exploitation by private institutions.

No restriction

Patil opposed restriction on intake of postgraduation courses in medical colleges as there was an acute dearth of specialist doctors in government health establishments.

“There should not be any rigidity on intake of PG medical courses. Whoever is capable of and whoever is merited and interested, should be allowed to pursue PG medical education,’’ he said, looking at Dr Vedprakash Mishra, Chairman of the Academic Committee of  Medical Council of India, who inaugurated the event.

Patil said though Karnataka has been on the forefront of medical education allowing private participation decades ago, there was acute shortage of doctors in government health establishments in rural areas and taluk hospitals. “Had we not opened the doors of medical education to private institutions, Karnataka would have been another Bihar or Uttar Pradesh,” he remarked.

To overcome the problem medical manpower and also to strengthen the district hospitals, the State was practicing a very liberal policy to open government medical college in every district. In the last one-and-a-half years’ of Siddaramaiah government, as many as 12 new government medical colleges have been sanctioned, he pointed out.
DH News Service