English

Abstract

India being the second most populous country in the world is among the countries with a large number of graduate medical colleges. To know the extent of regional and population wise distribution of medical colleges, data on the regional population and number of medical colleges in the corresponding regions as on 1st August 2012, was obtained from the official websites of census commissioner of India and the Medical Council of India respectively. So collected information was entered into Excel spreadsheet and analysed using the same software. With 355 institutions imparting graduate medical education in India, the average number of colleges corresponds to 10 per state/ UT. But there is great disparity in the regional distribution of the medical colleges with the difference varying from 43 medical colleges (Karnataka and Maharashtra) to no (zero) medical colleges in 4 states and 4 union territories of the country. In terms of ownership of graduate medical colleges, there is a rising trend in the establishment of non - government graduate medical institutions in India. The states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand (Empowered Action Group states) with 45.87 % of the India's population account for 25.69% of the medical colleges. The southern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra which correspond to 27.29 % of the population have 47.32% of the graduate medical institutions. There is regional inequity and mismatch between the population and the number of graduate medical colleges and seats in India.