AIMS Suggests Medical PG Courses
Instead of MBBS College
To overcome the shortage of
health care specialists in the Islands, Prem Nair, MD, Amrita Institute of
Medical Sciences, Kochi suggested that it would
be wise to commence PG Courses instead of going for a MBBS College
Giving a presentation on
the benefits of having PG Courses in the Islands ,
Prem Nair said that it would be cost-effective and will also help overcome the
shortage of specialists. He was speaking to a gathering at the Chinmaya
Mission, Port Blair.
“We have been coming to the
Islands for almost a decade now to serve the Islanders.
We are honoured for this opportunity provided,” he said.
He observed that some of
the health care requirements are not available at G.B. Pant Hospital Islands itself, he explained.
“Infectious diseases are
not a major concern today. But specialized treatment is required for diseases
relating to heart, kidney etc. which are increasing manifold,” he said.
“We have given a
presentation to the Administration on the need for specialised health care
facilities in the Islands . Our first
recommendation to the Administration was to immediately provide Acute Medical
Care facilities at the GB Pant itself and to get specialists in 8-10
specialities at least. This can be started immediately,” he said.
“We have also suggested
initiating a Post Graduate Medical course in the Islands
as second phase towards improving the health care facilities. In this case, the
students who come for PG Courses will be able to provide specialised treatment
too. This would incur much lesser cost to the exchequer”, Nair said.
“Starting a MBBS programme
is a very complicated and costly affair”, the MD of AIMS cleared. On the other
hand, for Speciality Programme, mere Rs. 12-14 Crore would be required apart
from adding a few equipments. The rest is already available at G.B. Pant
Hospital Islands for a long time," he said.
“It is our recommendation
to plan a PG Programme, which will be able to take care of the immediate
medical emergencies.”
As far as MBBS seat for the
Islands ’ students is concerned, we can work
with the Govt. of India to increase the number of seats being allotted
presently. “I suggest this because the cost of medical surgical care is very
low compared to the cost involved in setting up a medical college. The amount
of Rs. 500 Crore for set aside for starting a MBBS Programme can be used as
corpus to further improve the health care standards in the Islands ,”
Nair suggested.
The MD of AIMS also
appealed to the administration to look into the suggestion in a different way.
“We will not neglect the children of the Islands
but will help them by fighting with the Govt. of India to increase the number
of seats,” he stressed.
He further opined that the
MBBS Course is not feasible for the Islands as the quality will suffer as the
population of the Islands is less and is not
sufficient to train the doctors efficiently in the long run.
Addressing the gathering,
Bishnu Pada Ray, Member of Parliament added that the project of medical college
costing Rs. 500 Crores, was initially to be implemented in PPP mode, as was
decided by the Administration.
Questioning the present
decision of the Administration to set up Medical College
No comments:
Post a Comment