PG course at Topiwala Medical College awaits MCI inspection since 1993

Petition filed by doctors in High Court demanding inspection

Mumbai:A particular course being run at a medical college affiliated to BYL Nair Charitable Hospital, has still not got recognition; as the Medical Council of India (MCI), is yet to conduct the inspection required for it. Despite several reminders from the Ministry of Health, written communication from college authorities, and a Bombay High Court order, the said inspection and hence the recognition for this particular course, is yet to come.

Topiwala National Medical College, Mumbai Central, has been running the post graduate Diploma in Obstetrics and Gynaecology after having gone through an inspection by the Mumbai university and a Health Ministry nod. However, being devoid of a formal recognition from MCI, passing out doctors cannot get themselves registered and enjoy the ensuing benefits.

This has led two doctors, having completed the course in the past two years to file a petition seeking retrospective recognition, for a course started way back in 1993. The petition is a reflection of the “lackadaisical and high-handed behaviour of MCI”- stated the petitioner.

The latest petition filed through advocate Pooja Thorat states that the MCI has done nothing, but ask the college to file the application in a particular format or send a fresh application. The incessant delay on the part of the MCI, in granting recognition, has left the doctors passing out at a loose end. Their additional qualification cannot be put to use, and the medicos also run the risk of loosing employment, got on the basis of the additional qualification.

Rules, call for the MCI to inspect a college to ascertain whether the infrastructure is up to the mark, to run a particular course; and only then grant recognition to the said course.

Topiwala National Medical College has never been inspected by the Medical Council of India, despite repeated request by the institution.

A petition filed in the 2000s on the same issue, had the High Court direct the college to make a fresh application to the MCI, while the court asked the Council to inspect the college, at the earliest.

The latest petition mentions the Union Health Ministry having written to the MCI in post graduate Diploma in Obstetrics May 2009, December 2013 and April 2016, to carry out the necessary inspection, however, to no heed was paid to the request.

The petition is likely to come up for hearing next month , reports Bombay Mirror.