Medical education Ailing as DME post lies vacant
Medical education Ailing as DME post lies vacant
PUDUCHERRY: The Union Territory of Puducherry appears to be rudderless when it comes to medical education. Even though it has made..

PUDUCHERRY: The Union Territory of Puducherry appears to be rudderless when it comes to medical education. Even though it has made massive strides in this field, there is nobody to oversee the development and coordination of medical education given that the post of the Director of Medical Education (DME) still lies vacant.At present, the UT boasts of eight medical colleges including one in the government sector and the other colleges comprising dental, nursing, pharmacology, physiotherapy, ayurveda and veterinary sciences. There are more than 1,100 seats in these health institutions, both in the government and private sectors.Ever since the first medical institution was set up, the director of health and family welfare has been shouldering the responsibilities of the director of medical education from time to time, whenever required. However, with the increasing number of institutions as well as new guidelines issued by the Medical Council of India and directions coming from courts following litigation, the role of DME has increased manifold. The director of health and family welfare alone cannot effectively see to all such aspects of medical education over and above his routine health care responsibilities. The seat-sharing process for MBBS with regard to self-financial medical colleges is a major task. In the absence of a policy, negotiations take several rounds to secure the maximum number of seats possible. Thereafter, adequate attention is required as the seats surrendered under government quota often get filled up by management whenever there is a delay in admission of students or due to other such issues. Last year, a few CENTAC-sponsored students who were sponsored during the final round of counselling could not secure admission as the colleges closed the admissions on September 29. Even though the last date for closure of admissions was September 30, the colleges declared the day a holiday leaving some of the students high and dry. There has also been lack of regulation on the fee charged by self-financing colleges at the time of admission. Despite the fee committee fixing the fee, the colleges charged nearly double that fee by including various other things, such as, medical instruments, books, library, medical tours, travel and the like. Students sponsored by CENTAC often find themselves in such a situation. Those who can afford, take admission, while others opt for engineering or other professional courses. This leads to several rounds of counselling till the fag end of the closure date. Even PG medical seats in self-financing medical institutions have not been filled by government-sponsored students by enforcing the MCI guildelines. It would have been the DME’s lot to ensure enforcement of rules and regulations.Besides, the DME would play a significant role in the planning of medical education and its expansion, identifying the requirements of the UT students and formulating a policy to regulate admissions as well as granting licenses for new institutions and being responsible for fiscal accountability. With a DME in place, the chaos prevailing now could have been better addressed.

What's your reaction?

Comments

https://tupko.com/assets/images/user-avatar-s.jpg

0 comment

Write the first comment for this!