Medical colleges across the country are struggling to meet the demand for cadavers. As the number of medical colleges increases, so does the demand for cadavers, as medicos have cadaver-dissection as a part of their first-year syllabus. One cadaver should be made available to every 10 students for them to acquire the practical knowledge that a doctor is required to possess. This shortage can largely be addressed by the number of unclaimed bodies at the government hospitals.
The State Legislative Assembly has passed the Arunachal Pradesh Anatomy Bill 2017 which aims to provide for supply of unclaimed bodies of deceased persons or donated bodies or any part of deceased persons to hospitals and teaching institutions for the purpose of anatomical examination and dissection and other similar purpose.
The decision assumes huge significance given the fact that the state government is on a war footing to make the first medical college functional by 2017. The bill is very important not only for the purpose of academic and other purposes in terms of anatomical examination and dissections but it will also give practical knowledge to the medical students.
Arunachal is all set to have its first medical college; infrastructure facilities aside, the biggest challenge for the infant medical college would be to hunt for teaching faculty.
The lack of faculty in medical colleges is a problem that has been haunting the system for years. The disproportionate increase in the number of medical colleges has only aggravated the problem. With a large number of UG seats and very few PG seats, the issue is fast getting out of hands. Many medical colleges don’t have enough number of teachers to meet the MCI regulations.
Arunachal has a huge shortfall of specialist doctors in various categories. According to data presented at the 2014 budget, the state had only 70 specialist doctors whose services were being utilized across the districts on rotation basis.
So, along with huge need of doctors to cater to patients, the start of the college will also need a huge pool of experienced doctors to teach.
However, the state has made a smart move by increasing the retirement age of doctors from 58 to 62 years last year in accordance with Prime Minster Narendra Modi’s call to fulfill the shortage of doctors across the country.