Fate of GMC Ernakulam MD Students hangs in Balance as State Medical Council refuses to recognise their degrees

Kochi: The issue of pursuing medical courses from even government medical colleges whose MCI recognition stands in jeopardy has struck two batches of Ernakulam Government Medical College who are being denied recognition of their postgraduate degrees by the Travancore Cochin Medical Council

The Medical council of India had denied the recognition for five PG disciplines of the medical college including Medicine, Psychiatry, Paediatrics, Pathology and Microbiology as the loopholes were found in the infrastructure including MRI scanning machine, the absence of super-specialty disciplines, lack of adequate faculty and other staff.

The MCI had pointed out various deficiencies during the inspection last year in the five disciplines of the courses in the college at the time of final examination held for the courses. The government had given an undertaking about providing required facilities at the college on the basis of which the examinations were held in the college. However, no compliance report has been provided yet reports the Hindu.

With the MCI recognition of these courses in jeopardy, the future of the students of these courses are also hanging in balance. There is a total of 11 students from the five disciplines who began their courses in 2014. The first and the second batches gave their final examination in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

These students are having a tough time getting the degrees recognised from the state medical council. It is not possible for the doctors to practice with the specialisation or pursue further studies without getting themselves

registered under the state medical council.

Hindu reports that a Postgraduate student of GMC, Ernakulan has also approached the High Court alleging that the government has failed to act in accordance with the directives laid down by the Medical Council of India on conducting medical courses. This comes as the Travancore Cochin Medical Council (TCMC) is not giving its recognition to the Post Graduate courses offered by the medical college.

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Director of Medical Education Ramla Beevi told The Hindu, that a compliance letter would be sent in a couple of months before fixing the examinations scheduled for the next PG batch.

She added that with the cardiology department functioning in full swing and the nephrology department having a dialysis wing now, the government could now send a report to the MCI. The government's intent on setting up super-specialty departments was also evident since the work on building a super specialty block had begun, she further pointed out.