The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : Get back to work

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

Get back to work

By continuing their strike protesting against the Cabinet decision to institute, from the next academic year, 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes in Central educational institutions even after getting Prime Ministerial assurances that there would be no decrease in the seats available under the general category, doctors and medical students are guilty of gross dereliction of duty on top of social insensitivity. With the Central Government even promising to examine the demand for setting up an experts' committee to review reservation policy and the Supreme Court deciding to examine the whole issue, the medicos have no plausible excuses left to continue a strike that has paralysed health care in several Central medical institutions. To insist on "written assurances" from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, or to claim they are carrying on the strike to `protect' the interests of students of all subjects, is little more than a specious attempt to find new excuses to prolong a morally indefensible strike. True, medicos are the most affected by the Centre's decision to extend reservation to higher education: very few seats are available at the post-graduation level where the courses branch into super-specialities. The basic degree, MBBS, is only the first step in a medical career. Unlike in engineering, where graduation is enough for a student to start a career, post-graduate specialisation is a must for a doctor to move ahead professionally. The promise to increase the number of seats to offset the allocation of 27 per cent of the seats to OBCs should allay all apprehensions on this score.

That the medicos are refusing to see reason suggests their concerns lie elsewhere. Traditionally, the Indian Medical Association, a national body of doctors, has been opposed to any increase in the number of medical college seats. Although the negative position is couched in terms of opposition to a dilution of standards and privatisation of medical education, the self-serving, protectionist streak is unmistakable. The greater the number of doctors, the more competitive medical practice gets. Against this stands a great social imperative. According to the World Health Organisation's country health profile, there are only 5.2 physicians for 10,000 people in India. This average conceals imbalances, including an abysmal deployment of medical personnel in rural areas. Doctors are hesitant to work in rural areas owing to a combined poverty of facilities and remuneration. Independent of the reservation quota controversy, the situation calls for widening the portals of medical education, which in turn calls for increased investment in infrastructure and upgrading facilities. The striking medicos would do well to highlight these issues instead of contraposing `equality of opportunity' against `social justice' and `merit' against `reservation.' The striking doctors and medical students must resume duty without further delay as suggested by the apex court — or run the risk of losing all public sympathy.

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