200 MBBS students future hangs in balance over Delay in MCI Recognition

Vijayawada: As many as 200 MBBS students of two popular Andhra Pradesh Medical colleges are desperately looking for a ray of hope in the form of Medical Council of India (MCI) recognition which is currently on hold.

According to recent media reports, there exists a holdup in granting of MCI recognition for the additional 50 MBBS seats in the Guntur Medical College and for the entire 2014-15 batch of 150 MBBS students in AC Subba Reddy Government Medical College in Nellore. These MBBS students are worried as inspection for the seats at the medical colleges has been postponed by the MCI due to alleged lack of facilities at the institute.

Aggravated and expressing fear that further delay might lead to cancellation of 50 seats, the MBBS students of Guntur Medical College had recently staged a protest for MCI recognition for their degrees. They did not attend their duties at Guntur Government General Hospital (GGH) for two hours.

They demanded permanent recognition of the MCI to their institute and said the state government was not taking firm steps in ensuring the same.

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Every year, MCI sanctions 50 seats to the Guntur Medical College and, in 2013, it had allotted the college 150 seats. However, the MCI authorities are yet to conduct an inspection for verification and approval of the said number of seats this year, which is worrying the medicos as they await the council's response, reports an earlier report by TNIE.

Meanwhile, AC Subba Reddy Government Medical College, which was started in 2014-15, is yet to get recognition. While initially, the MCI permitted the establishment of ACSR GMC and increase of seats at GMC, the apex medical authority later refused to recognise the medical colleges citing lack of proper facilities.

Would talk to MCI- Varsity

To find the resolution to the issue, officials of Dr NTR University of Health Sciences (NTRUHS) to which the medical colleges are affiliated to; and Directorate of Medical Education have initiated talks with the MCI.

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Dr S Appala Naidu, NTRUHS Registrar told TNIE, "Students needn't worry about their future as MCI officials are going to inspect the facilities in the colleges soon and grant recognition. In fact, it is the fault of the colleges for not maintaining standards prescribed by the statutory body. The students, who studied for five years shouldn't be punished. So even though the colleges fail to meet the standards, on humanitarian grounds the students will not be allowed to suffer. But the MCI will punish the colleges by cutting down the number of medical seats."

GGH superintendent Dr DS Raja Naidu said that the students were expecting assurance from the authorities about the apex medical council recognition but the council team might conduct a surprise inspection.

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