The Indian Medical Association plans to develop a platform for MBBS graduates to find employment. R.V. Asokan, IMA’s national president, stated that the platform strives to provide career opportunities for young doctors. He was in Chennai on Sunday for an event hosted by the association.
Dr. Asokan added, “There is a myth that there is a shortage of doctors. It is not true. We have an excess of doctors. In the southern States, the ratio of doctors to patients is 1:500, whereas the Union government has informed Parliament that the all-India ratio is 1:830.”
While explaining the reason for creating a web portal, Dr Asokan said, “Currently, the country has 1,09,800 MBBS seats and 65,000 postgraduate seats. Every year, 45,000 students are left behind after taking the NEET-PG (exam). These doctors do not go back to their jobs but prepare for the exam again by taking up coaching. They are unemployed; some are married and depend on their family. There is a lot of frustration”. He added, “The web portal would help a candidate find employment if their profile matched the requirement”.
In October, the association will open an overseas vertical to enable young doctors to apply for positions elsewhere. As a third vertical, there will be a portal to offer overseas career development orientation. “We are bringing all these three—national employment, overseas employment, and overseas career development—into one scheme,” Dr. Asokan said.
On whether young doctors would be willing to relocate to distant States considering the language barriers they may have to surmount, Dr. Asokan said, “Doctors are produced for the country. There is an excess of doctors across the southern States. In Kerala, where I have been working for the past 42 years, the ratio is now 1:500. Along the western States such as Maharashtra, Karnataka and Goa, there are sufficient doctors.”
When the union government introduced another 72,000 seats, doctors would reach 10 lakh. “This is more than what we need. With the National Health Mission appointing ad hoc doctors, the opportunities for government jobs have been closed,” he explained. The dignity of the profession was hurt because of the ad hoc appointments and the fact that many doctors were asked to do one-day night shifts. Dr Asokan pointed out that instead of focusing on opening more medical colleges, the government should open more nursing colleges to build a solid paramedical force.
Indian Medical Association (IMA) is the largest represented organisation of doctors in the modern system of medicine in India, which looks after the interests of doctors as well as the well-being of the community at large. It aims to promote and advance medical and allied sciences in all their different branches and improve public health and medical education in India. When it comes to updating the knowledge of its members and keeping them abreast of the latest technologies in healthcare, the institution has academic wings for general practitioners, for specialists and online courses known as the IMA College of General Practitioners, IMA Academy of Medical Specialities, and IMA AKN Sinha Institute.
