The Cost of a Medical Degree

I was recently reading an article in “The Week” ( A weekly magazine) that claimed a 5 year MBBS degree (A basic degree in medicine after 12th standard) in China with an additional 1 year internship cost a total of Rs. 7 to 11 lakhs only. This, the article claimed, included tuition fee, boarding, lodging, flight charges, and hostel rooms that boasted of broadband connections, washing machine and microwave ovens.

Naturally I was skeptical. As far as I know, the average cost of a medical seat in India was much more than that per year. And many places don’t have even half the facilities listed here. My first thought was that these were some little known colleges. However, the article stated that these were top of the rung colleges in China.

Though there are several questions about whether these degrees will be recognized in India I couldn’t help thinking about the supply and demand equation here in India. Around 6 years back I had heard of a friend’s family who paid 43 lakhs for the first year MBBS course (management seat). What justifies these prices? Why are parents willing to shell out so much for their kids to become doctors? Is it an investment whose returns are well worth the initial capital?

I am inclined to think that we are obsessed with our kids becoming engineers and doctors. The emotional attachment of the same makes parents blind to the other considerations. Even if the child is not cut out to become a doctor or engineer the parents push their ambitions onto their kids. While this isn’t true in all cases, it certainly holds good for a majority of the cases. The mushrooming of hundreds of engineering and medical colleges around the country which churn out non employable graduates is being documented by numerous surveys. One such survey stated that hardly 25% of the engineering graduates in Karnataka were employable. They didn’t have the soft skills and / or the knowledge to be hired in companies.

While the figures might be debatable, I feel that there is no smoke without a fire. The demand is much more than the supply. Fly by night operators and sub standard colleges are cashing in on the irrational demand. Whether the Chinese colleges belong to this category or are really providing quality education only time will tell.

In the meantime maybe we should take a good long look at our beliefs. In this day and age, with so much information available and the numerous career options open to people, one cant help but wonder why such an irrational demand persists. Is it because we wax eloquent on this topic to others and THEIR kids, but heart of hearts want OUR kids to be doctors/engineers?