GMC Nagpur asks for 5 more super specialty seats

Nagpur: The Medical Council of India giving another chance for a one time increase in seats to Government Medical Collegesrunning post-graduate (PG) courses in various super specialties as led to Super Speciality Hospital (SSH), Government Medical College and Hospital, Nagpur apply for five more PG seats. The council in its letter dated 19th May, has asked all government colleges running post graduate courses to apply for the increase by May 23 on the prescribed format.

Read Also:MCI calls for One time seat increase in Super-specialty seats in Medical Colleges

The MCI’s latest offer will help the Super Specialty Hospital(SSH) of the Government Medical College, Nagpur get a total increase of five seats- 2 in gastroenterology and 3 in cardiology, raising the total from the existing three seats to 8. Presently the college has one gastroenterology and two cardiology seats.

Professor & Head of Cardiology, Dr Mukund Deshpande told TOI that they had submitted their requirement on a prescribed format to the Dean’s office on Monday.

"We have sought an increase of two to five as we now have two Associate Professors (APs) also. One professor now justifies three seats and an AP with seven years of experience justifies one seat and one with 12 years of experience justifies two seats," said Dr Deshpande

Dr Sudhir Gupta, Professor and Head ,Gastroenterology Department, stated that since they had only a single seat in the subject so far they had applied for two more. "As a professor I can get another two seats. We don't have an AP so we can't demand more," he added to the TOI.

Dr M P Parchand, the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) at SSH, said "This opportunity is limited to only subjects where there are existing PG seats. Though we have seven super specialties, at present we have just two subjects with PG seats. We can only demand seats in these two subjects. It will be a great if we get them," he said.

The Council has also asked for information on the number of faculty members which include: professors, APs, assistant professors and senior residents on prescribed proforma. The SSH is also expected to submit information on, beds, units faculty available, specialized equipment, and present seat strength, faculty strength with individual no of research publications of each faculty.

The SSH of GMC, Nagpur has been allocated Rs. 100 cr by the Maharashtra Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis for up gradation. The money is to be released in parts over a 5 year term.The letter received by the GMC Dean , Dr A Niswade from the Chief minister’s office states, "Though we already held a planning meeting on May 18, a detailed meeting will be held on June 2 when the college will chalk out details of proposals for equipment and other infrastructure for all the seven super specialties, along with the associated departments of pathology, anaesthesia, biochemistry and blood bank. It will also include the pending construction works, "

The money will be released over five years as a sum of Rs. 20 crore every year between 2017 and 2022. The Ist year is likely to see a release of Rs 10 crore for construction, Rs 5 cr for equipment and the remaining Rs 5 cr for other works.

Academic up gradation of the Super Specialty Hospital is also underway. DM in courses in addition to gastroenterology and cardiology is also to be introduced. The other subjects include: surgery, urology, endocrinology, neurosciences, cardio vascular thoracic, nephrology, neurology, and neurosciences, The blood bank, kidney transplant unit are also to be up graded. Departments of surgical gastroenterology, transfusion medicine and immunology are also to be started at the SSH.