Ranchi: RINPAS may lose PG psychiatry courses on Faculty Crunch

Ranchi: The Doctor of Medicine (MD) Psychiatry and Diploma/ Psychiatry (DPM) courses at the Ranchi Institute of Neuro-Psychiatry and Allied Sciences (RINPAS) might face closure on grounds of inadequate faculty, if the state of affairs does not improve, is the word of caution extended by the Medical Council of India.

In a written communiqué to RINPAS earlier in the month, the Post Graduate Committee of the Council asked the institute to improve its faculty strength, which had also been pointed out by the apex regulator in its assessor report in 2013. The apex education regulator had in its report also criticized the arrangements of beds in the hospital. The Council mentioned the RINPAS having five hundred beds under one unit, with no beds segregated for teaching purposes.

The Council further observed that the institute’s teaching staff was also looking after its non teaching beds also objecting to the Assistant professors being made in charge of the department. "There is no professor in the department which is against regulations. There are only two faculty members in the unit. Hence, the unit cannot be called a PG unit," the MCI stated.

Speaking of the utter confusion prevailing at the once well harnessed institute, the Council also raised questions on the quality of education being imparted at the institute. The MCI brought forth the issue of no research papers being put forth by the institute’s departments in the various national and international journals for the last three years. The council is of the opinion that RINPAS has been overlooking the council directives since 2014.

RINPAS is the sole institute in the state to have PG seats for MD and DPM in Psychiatry.

TOI reports that the hospital has hired its faculty members on contract, with the last recruitment of a permanent nature having taken place 10 years ago. . "There has been extreme apathy from the state government. Senior residents are not being recruited at a premiere institute like the Rinpas. Several senior residents, who has passed out from this institute and wanted to work here, have left Jharkhand in the last four years," a faculty said.

Interim Director of Rinpas, Subhash Soren, admitted to have received the MCI letter, regarding issues related to the institute. "We are fulfilling the compliances as mandated by the MCI. We will submit the compliance report shortly," he told the TOI.

The MCI directive to RINPAS comes at a time when a recent study has revealed that 12% of the state's population is ailing from mental illnesses.