A year of phenomenal developments

A casual glimpse at the history of medical colleges and education reveals that until 2008, there were only three medical colleges in Assam. While the iconic Berrywhite medical school at Dibrugarh was upgraded into Assam Medical College as early as 1947, Gauhati Medical College was established in 1960. Silchar Medical College had started functioning in 1968. For 61 years, these three medical colleges produced a paltry 391 medical graduates, falling far short of the requirement of treatment by qualified allopathic doctors for the growing population of the state at an affordable price. Further, the acceptable ‘doctor-patient ratio’ prescribed by WHO (World Health Organisation) is 1:1000. Needless to say, the ratio in Assam was lopsided for a long time. Assam had one doctor for 1,800 patients until 2016.