Gross Deficiencies at Karnataka Medical College: Over 100 MBBS students to be transferred to GMCs

MBBS students submitted that no classes are being held from the commencement of the 3rd-year and a couple of days before MCI inspection, Sambhram Institute of Medical Sciences allegedly collects poor, orphans from orphanages and elderly from the old age homes who are portrayed as patients.

Bangalore: More than 100 third-year MBBS students of defunct Sambhram Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (SIMSR), who took admissions for the academic year 2016-17 will soon be shifted to other medical colleges in Karnataka.

The batch became an orphan batch after the Medical Council of India (MCI) came up with an advisory denying permission to admit MBBS students for the academic year 2017-18 and 2018-19 in the medical college due to the lack of infrastructure and faculty facilities.

Recently, taking up the issue seriously, the State Government in a meeting held with the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) and chaired by the Deputy Chief Minister and the Minister for Medical Education Dr CN Ashwath Narayan decided to shift the medical students to government colleges as per availability of seats. According to authorities, arrangements are being made to reallocate 119 MBBS students to other medical colleges after checking the availability of seats.

The decision comes in the wake of plea moved by these MBBS students with the High Court of Karnataka seeking a declaration of the Sambhram Medical College, KGF, as a 'defunct institution' and seeking relocation to other recognised medical colleges.

In their petition, the medicos stated;

"..there is a severe shortage of faculty in the college and almost nil footfall of patients in the attached hospital, in which the petitioners are unable to receive any clinical training. It is further submitted that no classes are being held from the start of third year and prior to two days of the inspection visits by the Medical Council of India, the College garners destitute, orphans from orphanages and elderly from the old age homes who are portrayed as patients. It is urged that the college also hires practicing doctors to play the role of lecturers during the inspection."

The petitioners further added that they are "forced to remain in the college which are rendered defunct."

Hearing the contention, Justice Alok Aradhe directed that the Medical Council of India (MCI) and the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) will conduct separate inspections to find out if the medical college has enough infrastructure to teach MBBS students. In case, infrastructural deficiencies are discovered all the MBBS students will be transferred to government medical colleges, the court added.

As per a recent report in Bangalore Mirror, the RGUHS officials stated that the 3rd-year medical students are complaining of facilities. The medicos also claimed to be "hapless victims of glaring deficiencies in the infrastructure almost zero influx of patients in the hospital."