Medical Education Minister Sharanprakash Patil has termed the decision of the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) to exit the field of medical education and discontinue admission to medical, dental, nursing colleges and paramedical institutes from the ensuing academic year as “ridiculous, retrograde and illogical”.
“It is shocking that when the State government is making efforts to open new medical colleges, the Union government has taken a unilateral decision without consulting stakeholders, including the State government, to exit the field of medical education.”
Speaking to The Hindu here on Sunday, Dr. Patil said this would have a long-term impact on poorer sections of society whose dream of pursuing medical and postgraduate education at an affordable cost had gone down the drain. Seats under government quota with subsidised fees in the undergraduate and postgraduate medical and dental colleges would come down. He said the quota created in medical, dental and nursing colleges run by the ESIC for Insured Person (IP) members would now be eliminated and that these children hailing from poor and middle-class families would not have any hope of pursuing medical or dental education.
Dr. Patil said that he could not understand the rationale behind the decision. He said it would also have a impact on the quality of service provided in ESIC hospitals attached to ESIC medical colleges and postgraduate institutes.
He said the quality of treatment in these hospitals had always been the best owing to the availability of specialists in all disciplines. IP members and their families used to get high quality treatment for different ailments. “Now, this has been taken away due to the irrational decision of the ESIC and the Union Labour Ministry,” he said.
