The cross-cultural exchanges between the people of India and their colonial rulers provides a fascinating insight into how these encounters shaped medicine and medical education in India. This article traces the history of how Indian medicine was transformed in the backdrop of colonialism and hegemony. It goes on to show how six decades after independence, we have have still been unable to convincingly shrug off the colonial yoke. India needs to work out a national medical curriculum which caters to our country’s needs. A symbiotic relationship needs to be developed between the indigenous and allopathic systems of medicine.
Currently, there are several shortfalls in Medical education in India that ultimately affect quality. The NEET exam is supposed to access the competency of candidates for admission into MBBS/BDS courses, but there are reports of candidates with poor NEET scores securing admissions. Erstwhile MCI had stringent requirements, which was difficult for some of the newly established medical colleges to meet. Such colleges resort to a variety of unethical means to “pass” the inspections. Although such colleges used to obtain MCI’s approval, they were actually deficient in quality and services. Instead of striving to enhance the quality, most institutions merely strive to meet the regulator’s prescribed requirements. The ultimate aim of the colleges is to “pass” the inspection and plenty of efforts are devoted to just this purpose.
Many colleges struggle to find faculties both in the clinical and non-clinical disciplines. Appointments, promotions, and transfers of faculties are common occurrences just before an impending inspection.
Institutions below par try to cover their deficiencies by the use of ingenious street-smart methods. The Medical Council of India (MCI) is well aware of such behavior and the Council recently barred 32 colleges across the country. A recent news report reconstructs how one of those marshalled doctors on hire, fake patients and life-saving equipment on rent for inspection day to cover up their deficiencies (Krishnan, 2017). Even some of the “Institutions of National Importance” are not immune from such deficiencies: the first cohort of medical students of one of the newly set up AIIMS would reportedly graduate without practical skills due to several deficiencies including the absence of functioning operation theatres. As these are Government run public institutions, their violation of the norms is either condoned or goes unchecked.
Rapid growth in the number of medical colleges in India since 1950 has been driven largely by developments in the private sector. The private sector, currently accounting for over 45% of medical colleges in India, grew by 900% between 1970 and 2004, with the bulk of this growth occurring in the richer states. We assess the reasons for these trends and the ensuing equity implications. The growth of the private medical education sector over the last 6 decades is the most dominant feature of the Indian medical education landscape.