The Healthcare industry is one of India’s largest sectors, both in terms of revenue and employment. It employs a total of 4.7 million people and has generated 2.7 million additional jobs in India between 2017-22. Indian healthcare is growing at a CAGR of 22% between 2016–2022 and will reach US$ 372 billion in 2022 from US$ 110 billion in 2016.
The Medical Colleges in India grew by 1.3% per year from 1972 to 1980, 1.8% from 1981 to 1990 and 4.43% from 1991 to 2000 and 5.8% from 2001 to 2010. The average annual growth rate stood at 6.68% from 2011 onwards making it the highest in the last five decades.
The structural reforms and schemes in medical colleges, implemented in the last six years, have addressed various challenges in the form of reducing skyrocketing tuition fees and vagueness in college admissions, increasing the number of medical seats, improving the course curriculum, bridging the gap between rural and urban colleges and easing the process to open new medical colleges.
Growth of Medical Colleges in India
India had only 98 medical colleges in 1972, which crawled up to a mere 109 in 1981. The following decade saw only 19 colleges coming up, upping the tally to 128. Things started speeding up from this point onwards, with 189 medical colleges by 2001 and 314 by 2011. The number of Medical colleges in India almost doubled to 595, from 335 between 2011 and 2021.
The number of medical colleges expanded from 381 to 595 between the years 2014 and 2021. MBBS seats in top MBBS colleges in India grew by 72%, from 51,348 seats to 88,370 seats and postgraduate seats expanded by 78%, from 31,185 seats before 2014 to 55,595 seats as per Minister of Health and Family Welfare in Lok Sabha session on 10th December 2021.
New Medical Colleges in India
The government gave nod to 157 new medical colleges since 2014 and has invested INR 17,691.08 crore on these projects. Nearly 16,000 undergraduate medical seats would be added after completion. With the functioning of 64 new medical colleges in India, 6500 seats have already been created.
The Central Government under the CSS(Central Sponsored Scheme) has provided INR 2451.1 crore for revamping existing state and central government medical colleges in India. Of the 157 new medical colleges that are being established under the CSS, 39 are being set up in undeserved/backward/aspirational districts.
The Dilemma
India’s public expenditure on healthcare stood at 2.1% of GDP in 2021-22 against 1.8% in 2020-21. There is a huge shortage of medical colleges in India due to the government’s delayed action on adding more institutions.
There are way more aspirants than seats in top medical colleges in India and state domicile quotas provide an advantage or disadvantage to the students due to their geographical location.
Many states reserve 80-85% seats for residents creating an advantage for students in states having more colleges.
The Southern Advantage
South India comprising Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry accounts for about 20% of India’s population, but has 41% of India’s total MBBS seats (33,000 seats across 242 colleges). Nearly 60% of all private medical colleges in India are located in these states from 2009-2019, according to BMC Public Health open source journal.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the two most populous states have 71 medical colleges offering only 9,168 MBBS seats (11% of total seats). However, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath has laid the foundation of 14 Medical colleges in the state and efforts are being made by the government to set up another 16 under the PPP mode.
Top Medical Colleges in India
AIIMS Delhi is ranked 1st among the best medical colleges in India by NIRF 2021 rankings followed by PGIMER and CMC Vellore at 2nd and 3rd position respectively.
Bangalore houses the highest number of medical colleges in India, around 79. St John’s Medical College and Ramaiah Medical College are among the best medical colleges in Bangalore. CMC Vellore, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham Coimbatore, KMC Manipal and ILBS Delhi are some of the best private medical colleges in India.
Top MBBS Colleges in India
AIIMS New Delhi, PGIMER Chandigarh and CMC Vellore are the top MBBS colleges in India rank wise and are ranked in the top 3 respectively.
The top private MBBS colleges in India include Jamia Hamdard University - Delhi, St John’s Medical Colleges - Bangalore and KMC Mangalore. AIIMS New Delhi, BHU Varanasi, KGMU Lucknow, AMU Aligarh, etc are some of the top government MBBS Colleges in India.
The liberalization of the Indian economy in the early 1990s has played a crucial role in revamping the medical colleges in India. The role played by both the Government and Private sector has certainly given some hope to the students post 2020-21. And with a view to increase the public expenditure on healthcare to 2.5% of GDP, more medical colleges would come up across the country.
The implementation of CSS(Central Sponsored Scheme) for the upgradation of existing state and central government colleges with an objective to create 10,000 MBBS seats will certainly help in revamping the medical colleges in India. Creation of additional capacity, maintaining standards and promoting excellence should be the focus for the mushroom growth of medical colleges in India.
