Medical seats

This refers to ‘Wrong medicine’ (September 5). Despite the paucity of doctors and staff across government medical colleges and hospitals, the government is reticent in resolving the crisis. Consequently, this will have an adverse impact on the lives of patients. Adding anguish to this, the National Medical Commission has issued guidelines to cap MBBS seats to 100 per every 10 lakh population.

This capping is unwarranted at a time when the demand for medical professionals is rising. The continuation of such a situation will add to the woes of the low strata of society, especially those who are solely dependent on government hospitals. Given medicines and treatments are becoming expensive, and various new diseases are emerging, the government must expand healthcare infrastructure, besides ensuring there is an adequate number of doctors and other staff to cope with the increasing demand.

VSK Pillai

Changanacherry, Kerala

Norms need review

In a country with a high number of people with health problems, the norm ‘x number of seats per y number of population’ for opening medical colleges or adding seats to existing ones should be treated as setting the lowest limit, not the highest. This will undo the unreasonable restriction.

The normative approach should also consider the number of applications per seat as another factor. This would measure the magnitude of career aspirations of the youth opting for patient-care service.

A question arises about the intention of the government in introducing the norm which has precluded southern States from offering more seats in medical colleges. Was it to stop the exodus of students to the South seeking admission there? If so, the solution for this is to enhance the quality of medical education in the North.

YG Chouksey

Pune

An asylum crisis

Apropos ‘An asylum crisis’ (October 5), the US knows it needs manual labour for the big farms adjoining its borders, particularly Texas. While the US allows asylum seekers selectively, it also lets in illegal ones only to push them back to the trans-border territories they came from after the sowing/harvesting operations every season.

Migration will continue as long as there is uneven development across the world. Worker migration within the US is also changing.

Now, many San Francisco-based companies are shifting their offices elsewhere to cut cost. In India, reverse migration is becoming evident as growth in BIMARU States have started looking up.

Brij Bhushan Goyal

Ludhiana

Fall in savings

This refers to ‘Savings fall reflects income crisis’ (October 5). The dip in household savings is indeed a worry. Even if one of the reasons is an increase in financial liabilities, the government and the RBI must do whatever it takes to increase income, employment and contain inflation. In the last few years, there has been increased participation from retail investors in mutual funds. But the dip in savings will affect such investments and have a ripple effect.

Bal Govind

Noida

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