The Medical Council of India’s board of governors today announced their plan to introduce common entrance tests for admission in under-graduation and post-graduation courses in medical colleges across the country. Briefing the media here, MCI governing body’s chairperson Dr Shiv Sarin said that the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is being consulted for the same.

“The MCI now feels confident of and has in principle agreed for a common entrance test for post-graduation and under-graduation in the coming years. This test will oversee undergraduate admissions to all government and private colleges. The common entrance test will change the scenario of health education in India and would have norms which would be accepted globally,” said Dr Sarin.

He added that the biggest problem for medical education in India is the lack of teachers and that it would be impossible to talk of increasing students if the teachers are not retained. “Altering the student-teacher ratio is not a viable option. We need to increase the salaries of teachers, pay them what they are worth,” he said.

A ‘need assessment’ is also being carried out by the MCI to judge the number of specialist doctors required, keeping in mind the health needs of the country especially in the rural and hilly areas where the health infrastructure is poor.

Meanwhile, the MCI announced that the processing of pending applications from the medical colleges across the country is complete and the reports would be made public soon.

“Out of the 300-odd medical colleges in India, 81 have been picked up for assessment by the MCI governing body. Out of these, 15 are new applicants, while the other 66 have reached up to the fourth year of coursework. 75 colleges’ reports are ready and will be put on the MCI website for all to see. The remaining reports will hopefully be in public domain by tonight,” said Dr Sita Naik, member of the MCI governing body.

After reviewing the reports, the colleges will send affidavits latest by July 15 to the MCI and the governing body will then decide if the college is fit for operation. The assessment report of Gian Sagar Medical College, which was in news for having offered a capitation fee to ex-MCI president Dr Ketan Desai, has also been made by the MCI governing body and would go up on their site, Dr Sarin confirmed.

The MCI has been operating through 13 working groups, out of which two would initiate work in under-graduate and post-graduate medical education July 3 onwards. There would be other groups to look at ethics reform and equivalence issues at large.

Stressing that the medical education should stay under the purview of the health ministry due to its specialized requirements, Dr Sarin said that the MCI has approached the Planning Commission for their consent on opening new government medical colleges.

In this regard, Dr Devi Prasad Shetty, member MCI governing body, spoke about the need to set up government medical colleges in different regions, especially in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, the North-East region and the small districts where there the retention rate of doctors is low but the demand is high.

“We need at least 100 government medical colleges in India. The need of the hour is to ensure doctors working in these regions as well. This will attract students who will return to serve the needs of their hometowns,” said Dr Shetty.

However, he added that the number of applicants to medical education has been dropping. “Private medical colleges are now struggling to fill seats. So it’s important to have government colleges to ensure medical education across regions,” he said.

The MCI’s governing body now operates with six members and decisions are taken unanimously. The MCI has also been cooperating with the CBI with the latter’s inspection of certain colleges.