Jharkhand: Two government medical colleges under MCI scrutiny

Jharkhand: Two government medical colleges in the state-Patliputra Medical College Hospital (PMCH) and Mahatma Gandhi Medical College Hospital (MGMCH) are staring at a situation of losing out 100 MBBS seats. Both the colleges are under the scrutiny of MCI, which has reportedly found deficiencies in the institutes.

If, they fail to rectify the deficiencies, around 100 MBBS seats will be lost for the 2016-17 academic session.

State government has taken some recent measures as remedy to the situation including, appointment of 24 senior residents and tutors.

However, the day the government decided to issue a notification on the appointment of new staff, MCI’s inspection team also paid a surprise visit the same day in the two colleges.

The on-ground situation reported in the press suggests that physical verification of the new appointees could not be confirmed, as they were not present during the surprise check. MCI representatives did not note their attendance, or so to say, did not include them as a part of the department strength.

To add to woes of the college, MCI inspectors also did not mark the attendance of regular teachers who were absent on the day of the inspection; as in, were reportedly on leave that day. This resulted in a false implication of 25% faculty member’s shortage in PMCH. The same situation led to a reported 12% reported shortage in MGMCH.

PMCH principal Dr Arun Kumar is hopeful of a positive outcome and told HT that, “Since all the vacant posts have been filled up, I am hopeful of retaining the 100 MBBS seats for 2016-17 session too.”

MCI inspection team is reported to have found certain discrepancies earlier with the compliance measures at RIMS (Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences). The matter is regarding the renewal of 60 MBBS seats at the institute for the new academic session

Providing some sigh of relief to students who seek admission to medical colleges, only to be left in lurch if the college is not granted an MCI approval, the Supreme Court had recently ordered a monetary compensation for such students.

Failure of a medical college to get an MCI approval can be over the reason of lack of adequate facilities and infrastructure, as noted by the apex court.

The SC also noted that the college administration and management is liable in such cases and should compensate the students monetarily.