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In a major boost to Maharashtra’s health infrastructure, the Cabinet on Wednesday gave approval to set up Government Medical Colleges (GMCs) in nine districts with funding of Rs 4,366 crore.
Drought-prone Vidarbha gets the bulk of it (how many?).
For years, public health policymakers and physicians have been raising the need to establish medical institutions in every region that can help bridge the gap between demand and availability of physicians.
Out of the 36 districts in Maharashtra, only 23 of them have government medical colleges as of now.
However, with the establishment of nine GMCs at Gadchiroli, Bhandara, Buldhana, Washim, Wardha, Amravati, Jalna, Thane and Palghar, the number of GMCs will increase to 32.
Last year, in the state budget, it was announced that 12 medical colleges would be established.
Medical colleges will help graduate qualified and specialized doctors. Girish Mahajan, the state medical education minister, said this would not only help in timely provision of treatment but also address the problem of shortage of doctors in the state.
Earlier, in several cases, the state government proposed to set up a GMC in Palghar and Thane but it remained on papers only.
Due to the unavailability of specialist doctors in government hospitals, patients are forced to travel to Mumbai. “Nearly 40 percent of the number of cases in the city are from neighboring areas,” said a doctor from KEM Hospital.
However, the doctor also warned that besides establishing medical colleges, the government should also focus on hiring professors and doctors to train students.
Oftentimes, we see hospital staff shifting from one medical college to another to cover the huge shortage of staff. A former officer from the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) said:
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