Summary
The JIS School of Medical Science, Research Centre and Hospital will admit 150 students
A private medical college at Howrah’s Santragachhi, which will start admitting MBBS students this academic year, was inaugurated by chief minister Mamata Banerjee from Alipore on Monday.
The JIS School of Medical Science, Research Centre and Hospital will admit 150 students.
The number of undergraduate medical seats will go up to 5,000 once the college in Howrah starts enrolling students.
“We now have 4,850 MBBS seats, of which 1,200 seats are in private colleges,” said an official in the state health department.
“There are 24 government-run medical colleges and nine private medical colleges in Bengal.”
Bengal’s MBBS seat count, however, is far less compared with few other states.
Karnataka has more than 10,000 MBBS seats and Maharashtra has about 6,500 MBBS seats. A large number of the seats in both states are in private medical colleges.
Over the years, scores of students from Bengal travelled to other states to study medicine because of lack of adequate number of seats in Bengal.
Amanjot Singh, a director of the JIS group, said 33 per cent of the seats in the JIS School of Medical Science will be reserved for students from Bengal. Students from Bengal have to vie with those from other states for the remaining seats. “All admissions will be based on ranks in the NEET,” he said.
The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) is the common test conducted for admission to undergraduate medical colleges across the country.
The state government has set a cap on fees in private medical colleges.
“Students from Bengal cannot be charged more than Rs 2.74 lakh per semester. The other seats, meant for students from anywhere in the country, have a capping of a little more than Rs 10 lakh per semester,” Singh said, citing the state government’s rule on capping of fees.
The JIS college is yet to fix the course fees.
The results of NEET 2023 have been published and counselling will begin soon. Usually, classes for MBBS first-year students start in August-end or early-September.
Many students from Bengal also go abroad to study medicine. Before the Russia-Ukraine war, many students would study medicine in Ukraine.
“Many students are now going to other east European countries,” said an official of a medical education consultancy.
China, too, is a top draw among students keen to study medicine.
A public health expert expressed the hope that an increase in the number of undergraduate medical seats could result in more doctors going to rural areas. He said the biggest problem in India’s healthcare sector is lack of adequate services in ruralareas.
“Most doctors nowadays prefer staying in cities. But if the number of doctors increases and cities have enough doctors, young graduates might go to rural areas. That would improve the healthcare service in rural areas,” he said.
He also stressed the need for more government-run medical colleges so bright students from middle-income and poor families could afford medical education.
Last updated on 25 Jul 2023
