Centre plans to reduce specialist doctors shortage; PG, UG seats to be made equal

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Union Health Ministry officials on July 14 said that the government is focused to reduce the shortage of specialist doctors in the country by equalising the number of post-graduate seats with that of undergraduate seats.

Acknowledging the shortage of specialist doctors in the country, a top health ministry official said the government has set a target of three years to bridge the existing gap.

"The undergraduate and postgraduate seats will be made equal in the country in the next three years by bringing in DNB courses in private and district hospitals," the official said.

The official further said that there will be no compromise in course quality.
"Slowly we will do away with the PG seat shortage and shortage of specialists in India," he added.

When asked about the existing gap between UG and PG seats, another official said India has over one lakh seats for undergraduates and over 67,000 seats are available for postgraduate doctors.

"The gap will be easily bridged in the next three years as we have medical colleges where the post-graduation courses can be started," another health ministry official told Moneycontrol.

According to government data, the number of medical colleges has increased significantly since 2014.

There is an increase of 69 percent in medical colleges from 387 before 2014 to 654 as of now, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar told the Rajya Sabha in February.

Further, there is an increase of 94 percent in MBBS seats from 51,348 before 2014 to 99,763 as of now and an increase of 107 percent in PG seats from 31,185 before 2014 to 64,559 as of now.