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Why are there fewer medical colleges in India as compared to engineering colleges?

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    has covered a critical point on the infrastructure requirement front. Before I go to my answer, let me say that we must ignore completely the passion element. Few youngsters really know what they want to do by the time they have to decide which is around the age of 14-15 in India. Given the very rigid education system, it is not easy to change streams and hence students get cattle crushed into one or other area at a very young age. The main influencers are parents, many of whom try and live their ambitions through their children.  I would ignore peer group pressure for the same reason that few of their peers really know what they want. Having said this, I think one critical element that leads to fewer medical colleges as compared to engineering colleges is the issue of demand. What do I mean? You will know that most of the demand for professional courses comes from the upper middle class and upper class. With education becoming a very expensive proposition and scholarships not easily available, parents have to invest in the education. Naturally, one of the considerations is the return on investment and the time period over which the investment can be recovered. What does it mean to be a doctor? Being doctor who can earn tonnes of money takes a huge amount of time. You need to specialize, practice, specialize more and THEN earn a name for yourself. Not as easy as it sounds. Most doctors are well into their mid to late 30s by the time they reach anywhere close to this. Leading upto this stage is a life of high pressure, long hours, self denial (a doctor on call cannot indulge in a booze spree, at least should not indulge) and poor income. Second, given the socialist background of India, there is still this appeal of travelling / settling abroad for work. As a doctor, it is not easy. You have to make tremendous efforts to get posts abroad, pass more examinations and stay in the continual learning mode (in developed countries). So unless the kid is going to be taking over his parent's hospital / established practice, it makes no sense to go through this grind. Contrast this to the life of an engineer. An engineer is employable (I use these words carefully knowing that it is not really true in the real world and a lot of training has to go in to make it so) from the moment (s)he graduates. If the engineer is in the IT field, the boom over the last two decades makes a job easier to get. On a side note I am always appalled at the salaries that are being offered to fresh graduates when I know that few of them are really worth the money they are offered and fewer are worth the money they think they should get. If you are good in your academics, there are chances of obtaining scholarships for an MS in a US (or other) University, paving the way for possible emigration. If the engineer does not want to remain in the field, there is always an easy-switch option of an MBA. Would you blame parents for pushing their kids into engineering? Would you blame opportunists for starting more engineering colleges? Would you blame more kids getting into engineering because there are more seats? Do you see how neatly a vicious (or virtuous) cycle has been created?

Makarand Sahasrabuddhe at Quora Visit the source

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It takes a lot to establish a Medical College. There are so many requirements to fulfil The  medical college or medical institution shall be housed in a unitary campus of not less  than  20 acres  of  land except in metropolitan (New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata & Chennai) and A class cities (Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Pune, Bangalore and Kanpur).  However, this may be relaxed in a place especially in Urban areas where the   population is more than 25 lakhs, (*other than the nine cities mentioned in the Clause), hilly areas, notified  tribal  areas,  North  Eastern States,  Hill   states   and  Union  Territories  of  Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Daman & Diu & Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Lakshadweep, where the land shall not be in more than two  pieces and the distance between the two pieces shall not be more than 10 kms.  The hospital, college building including library and hostels for the students, interns, PGs/Residents and nurses shall be in  one piece of land which shall not be less than 10 acres. Other facilities may  be housed in the other  piece of land. Proper landscaping should be done That the person provides two performance bank guarantees from a Scheduled Commercial Bank valid for a period of five years, in favour of the Medical Council of India, New Delhi, one for a sum of rupees one hundred lakhs (for 50 admissions), rupees one hundred and fifty  lakhs (for 100 admissions) and rupees two hundred lakhs (for 150 annual admissions) for the establishment of the medical college and its infrastructural facilities and the second bank guarantee for a sum of rupees 350 lakhs (for 400 beds), rupees 550 lakhs  (for 500 beds) and rupees 750 lakhs (for 750 beds) respectively for the establishment of the teaching hospital and its infrastructural facilities : Provided that the above conditions shall not apply to the persons who are State Governments/Union Territories if they give an undertaking to provide funds in their  plan budget regularly till the requisite facilities are fully provided as per the time bound programme. Opening of a medical college in hired or rented building shall not be permitted. The Medical college shall be set up only on the plot of land earmarked for that purpose as indicated. The person owns and manages a hospital of not less than 300 beds with necessary infrastructural facilities capable of being developed into teaching institution in the campus of the proposed medical college. There is a long list of procedures which needs a lot of money and it is difficult for most people to produce You can read them here http://www.mciindia.org/for-colleges/Estt-of-New-Med-Coll-Regulations-1999.pdf

Kush Tripathi

Demand. Around 6 lakh students registered for AIPMT in contrast to over 13 lakhs for JEE Mains. Today very few, dedicated students opt to study medical as it is not lucrative as engineering degree. Who wants to study for 5 years for just MBBS degree when they think they will be millionaire by just acquiring B.Tech degree?

Aashish Gupta

coz gold is rarer and hence costlier ....today everyone is an engineer ..... everyone takes the same b tech route mindlessly....and with no sense of direction do an MBA  . If you really wanted to do an MBA then why do engineering . These are fields which are completely unrelated. anyways coming back to the question Setting up a medical college takes a lot of money ... for example you need an attached hospital..... There you will have a radiology department which will house at least a few CT scanners and at least one MRI machine which single handely will exceed the total expenses of setting up a whole engineering college then lack of Human resource in Medicine......most of the positions in even the top 20 medical colleges in India in Pre and Para clinical branches are unfilled .... Lack of teaching faculty . ...... sir with respect not everyone in this country wants to be an engineer..... and as far as money is concerned an example A Resident (PG candidate) at a delhi medical college gets about 70 K a month at the age of 23-24 . A PG today with 1- 2 years of Srship earns about 1l/month. And this is your gross income and not the CTC that many engineering companies pay (my friend who got a Rs 10 L ctc offer from BPCL told me that he get about 52-55 in hand each month). Yes medicine is tough , its gruelling and can be burdensome at times ,it is not for everyone .But the satisfaction that one gets is immense . Medicine has made me understand the fickle nature of life and that it is health that matters more than money. Plus recession no recession you will always earn .You will never be out of Job and you can work for yourself. I have never regretted my decision of taking up medicine as a career and God willing I will never .

Manu Pandey

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