Govt bars six more medical colleges from taking new admissions

New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry has asked six more medical colleges not to admit MBBS students for academic years 2017-18 and 2018-19, after they were found to be lacking the requisite infrastructure and faculty.

The ministry had earlier disapproved 23 medical colleges for not abiding by the mandatory standards as set by the Medical Council of India (MCI).

The move comes after the MCI, the country's apex medical education regulatory body, approached the ministry seeking disqualification of the colleges.

"During inspection, these medical colleges were found to have several deficiencies like shortage of faculty. They showed faculty members on papers which actually did not exist. Also, they did not have up to the mark infrastructure for admitting patients," said a senior MCI official.

The official, however, said the students who had cleared the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and taken admission in these colleges in 2016 will continue their courses as their future is at stake.

Closing down the colleges will create problems for them, the official said.

The hospitals which have been barred from taking new admissions are NC Medical College and Hospital in Haryana, Gauri Debvi Institute of Medical Sciences in West Bengal, Ponnaiyah Ramajayam Institute of Medical Sciences in Chennai, Mahaveer Institute of Medical Sciences in Telangan, Sambhram Institute of Medical Research in Karnataka and RVS Institute of Medical Sciences in Andhra Pradesh.

If these colleges improve on the fronts for which they were assessed and barred from admitting students then they can apply again and get approval.