Rs 12.6 crore aid to MUHS from Planning Commission
The Pune regional centre of the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) has been allotted Rs 3 crore of the total Rs 12.6 crore financial aide extended by the Planning Commission of India to the Nashik-based state health university for strengthening infrastructure and training facilities.
Maharashtra has 41 medical colleges and has 4,460 students graduating each year the highest in country. The number of colleges rose from 12 in 1980 to 41 by the end of 2008. A shortage of teachers has reflected on the number of quality doctors passing out of colleges. There is a need for quality training of teachers as well as continuing medical education and continuing professional development (CME/CPD) for medical teachers.
This is the first ever instance of the MUHS receiving an aide of such major proportion from a central agency. The funds are to be routed through the state department for medical education, which issued a government resolution (GR) on August 29 declaring the distribution of the aide to MUHS, Nashik headquarters and Pune regional centre.
Speaking to TOI , MUHS vice-chancellor Mrudula Phadke said,
The funds allotted to the Pune regional centre will be utilised for establishing a state-of-the-art training institution for medical professionals engaged in teaching health science courses.
The idea is to provide medical teachers’ training at four different levels viz. junior, intermediaries, middle and senior-level doctors in different aspects. For instance, few doctors knew about an infectious disease like swine flu until a few months back. We want to ensure that our doctors get an update on outbreak of diseases, to be prepared for tackling such health eventualities.”
The MUHS teachers training institute, which is the only facility of its kind in the state, was established on March 27, 2007, at the Aundh Chest Hospital building. However, the health varsity had sought funds for strengthening and creating a state-of-the-art training facility for medical teachers.
Dr Phadke said
The junior-level training had focus on factors like communication with patients, medical ethics and good medical practices, among others; the intermediary and middle-level training would be focussed on continuing medical education and continuing professional development (CME/CPD) and skill enhancement. The CME/CPD and skill enhancement training is where the update on emerging diseases is to be covered.
The senior-level training would mostly involve deans and professors from various government medical colleges and hospitals and would focus on factors such as leadership, management and administration.
The Nashik unit will get Rs 5 crore for proposed new buildings and basic infrastructure while Rs 1 crore each will go setting up video-conferencing; medical library; and consortium of journals facility and Rs 1.6 crore for procurement of new equipment.
But already a row seems to be brewing over the allocation of funds. Wait and watch what happens next.
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