With professors missing, medical students turn to YouTube and coaching apps to fill classroom void

In colleges grappling with faculty shortages and inadequate lab facilities, YouTube, Marrow, PrepLadder, PhysicsWallah, MedLive by Dr. Priyanka, and other short-term online courses are increasingly serving as alternatives to mainstream medical education, even for hands-on subjects.

An undergraduate student from Government Medical College, Bhadradri, Telangana, said, “In my first year of Anatomy, there was no professor, associate professor, or assistant professor. We had only a single tutor, far below the minimum faculty requirement prescribed by the National Medical Council (NMC) based on the college’s seat capacity and departmental structure. There were also only a couple of cadavers for over 150 students, far below the recommended 1:10 ratio. As a result, I gained little real understanding of the subject but still had to sit for the examination. I managed to get through using online resources on YouTube for Anatomy.”

In the absence of faculty, students often use unattended class hours to sit in the library for self-learning or spend the time otherwise. Many in his class, he said, have subscribed to online platforms primarily meant for postgraduate entrance examination preparation. Based on the subscription fees and his financial constraints, he chose one online course. He says that despite passing his exams, his medical education has left him with a significant gap in practical training, one that he feels still remains unaddressed. “I was supposed to do it live, and learn medical subjects, but had to absorb information from an online video, with a provision to solve MCQs after completing the video.”

Another undergraduate student, part of the first batch admitted to Government Medical College, Asifabad in 2023, described a similar experience. Now in his third year, midway through his five-and-a-half-year medical course, he says that of the two subjects — Forensic Medicine & Toxicology and Community Medicine — there is no faculty for Forensic Medicine & Toxicology. While textbooks were available and helpful, he also turned to an online application, subscribing at a cost of around ₹60,000 for a three-year plan. “It is a significant amount. Two people can’t share the subscription on different devices. Also, it was difficult to convince my parents, but I had no choice,” he said.

A concern across States

As reported earlier by The Hindu, findings from the Federation of All India Medical Associations (FAIMA) nationwide Review of Medical System survey, released in October 2025, and conducted across 28 States and Union Territories, revealed that nearly 40% of medical students from both government and private medical institutions reported their colleges to not have adequate faculty. The survey also found that about 50% of students said their colleges do not have a fully functional central library and lacked proper clinical laboratories. The issue of faculty crunch extends to central medical institutes as well, including the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). According to government data shared in the Rajya Sabha this February, about 37% of sanctioned faculty posts are vacant across 20 AIIMS institutions nationwide.

A young medical undergraduate in Haryana, currently in her final year at Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government Medical College, says her academic challenges began in the first year. She explains that attending class is largely for attendance, as four of the 11 subjects—General Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Psychiatry, and Radiology—have no faculty, while many other classes rely on Senior Residents (SRs) or tutors to fill the role of professors.

When asked what she does in classes where faculty are absent, she said that attendance is still marked, and she and her classmates often spend the time on social media or return to their hostels. This has forced her to rely heavily on online platforms like Marrow, spending around six hours a day on screen, with two to three hours devoted solely to Marrow.

Another student, in the heart of Madhya Pradesh, at Sunderlal Patwa Government Medical College, reported that for the three first-year subjects—Anatomy, Biochemistry, and Physiology—practical labs were largely unavailable for the departments of Biochemistry and Physiology. According to the student, while teaching faculty exist on paper, their numbers fall well short of NMC norms. “In the beginning, I relied on textbooks, but the terminologies were unfamiliar and difficult to follow. I couldn’t continue for long and eventually had to rely on the online subscription platform PrepLadder, which cost me around ₹30,000,” he said.

At least three students from private medical colleges in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Jharkhand reported that although faculty positions are officially filled on paper, few professors attend classes regularly, even after face-based Aadhaar authentication for marking attendance is marked. In such situations, the teaching burden falls on postgraduates and residents, who conduct sessions primarily using PowerPoint slides, leaving little to no opportunity for direct teacher-student interaction or clarification of doubts.

Clinical consequences

When asked whether relying on online resources helped fill the gap left by absent teaching faculty, one of the students admitted that significant knowledge gaps remain due to the lack of adequate faculty and laboratory facilities.

The undergraduate student from Haryana shared that she and many of her peers still lack practical skills such as cannulation, clinical diagnosis, and familiarity with drug names. “When someone in the family asks me, I either Google it or go to the residents for guidance,” she said, adding that she hopes to acquire these skills during her internship, having missed proper hands-on training throughout her four-and-a-half years of medical education.

“Faculty shortage for undergraduate students has been more problematic. Many of my juniors opted for short-term courses even after graduation due to the lack of teaching — be it the quality of instruction, the availability of faculty, or inadequate practical training,” said a woman doctor who completed her post-graduation from a private medical college in Jharkhand.

Clinical consequences

“There is a clear disconnect between what is mandated on paper and what students experience daily in classrooms, wards, and laboratories. Online teaching, meant to supplement learning, is being used as a substitute for absent faculty, which was never its intended purpose. Medicine cannot be regulated like a distance-learning course,” said Dr. Rohan Krishnan of the Federation of All India Medical Associations and Associate Professor at the University of Delhi.

“The long-term consequences of this are serious,” Dr. Krishnan added. “There will be weakened clinical reasoning and bedside skills, reduced exposure to real-time decision-making and mentorship, and lower confidence in handling emergencies and procedures. This will also increase dependence on coaching centres and external platforms, widening inequities. Ultimately, it could compromise patient safety and gradually erode trust in medical qualifications and institutions.”

Against NMC norms

Colleges operating with only one or two teaching staff members — or none at all — are in violation of the prescribed guidelines of the national medical regulator for undergraduate education, said Dr. Srinath Dubyala, acting President of FAIMA and President of the T-SRDA.

According to the Undergraduate Minimum Standard Requirements, 2023, issued by the Undergraduate Medical Education Board of the National Medical Commission (NMC), faculty strength in medical colleges is prescribed based on seat capacity, ranging from 50 to 250 MBBS seats. For instance, a medical college with 150 seats is required to have a total of 114 faculty members. When narrowed down department-wise across nearly 20 departments, the required number of Professors, Associate Professors, and Assistant Professors varies. For example, in the Department of General Medicine in a 150-seat medical college, the prescribed strength includes one Professor, four Associate Professors, two Assistant Professors, and three Senior Residents.

Despite repeated formal representations highlighting faculty shortages across medical colleges, the NMC’s response has largely been limited to advisories, inspections, and show-cause notices, Dr. Krishnan said. “While this signals acknowledgement of the issue, it has not led to sustained corrective action. The problem is not a lack of rules, but weak enforcement,” he added. An email query has been sent to the NMC seeking its response on the shortage of medical faculty across States, the extent of vacancies in medical colleges, and the concerns raised by students regarding the impact on teaching quality and clinical training. No response has been received yet.

(The author is an independent journalist based in Hyderabad covering politics, human rights, and environmental issues, primarily from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. He is now expanding his work to include education across all States.)

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