New medical colleges are being approved or opened every other month but this expansion is coming hand-in-hand with a crisis - shortage of teachers.
According to doctors' professional bodies, teachers and healthcare organisations, this has negatively impacted the quality of medical education and has serious implications for the public health system in the long term.
"Due to shortage of faculties, we are producing a factory of young doctors who are under-skilled. It is the right of patients to get the best medical care but this will be compromised. This will happen because we are focusing on quantity rather than quality of doctors being produced in our country," Dr.Shankul Dwivedi, member of standing committee of Indian Medical Association (IMA) junior doctors' network told Careers360.
Those connected to medical education say that efforts are being made to increase undergraduate and postgraduate medical seats but little has been done to ensure they have teachers.
Years-long recruitment process at medical colleges, reservation roster in appointing specialist medical officers as assistant professors, extension of retirement age and reappointment of old teachers in medical colleges are among the reasons leading to faculty shortage.
'Unplanned' increase
The shortage is due to a "delayed and tiring" recruitment process, said Dr.Abhishek Shankar, associate professor, department of Radiation Oncology of AIIMS, Patna. There are enough doctors who would be willing to teach but low salary, job insecurity and a hiring process that literally lasts years are keeping them away. According to government data, the total number of medical colleges rose by over a third from 2013-14 to 2022-23 (See Table).
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