Unrecognized Degrees: Students suffer due to lack of provisional certificates

Chennai: In the absence of provisional II certificates being granted to Sri Muthukumaran Medical College pass outs by Dr. MGR Medical University, enrollment with the State Medical Council for legitimate medical practice and admission for further studies, in post graduate courses, has become a distant dream.

While Dr MGR Medical University has announced a convocation of MBBS students on December 3, the SMMC college students are expressing their regrets at not being granted their degrees at the universities 28^th convocation. The students are eligible for a degree after completion of a year's Compulsory Rotatory Resident Internship (CRRI).

Registration with the Tamil Nadu Medical Council (TNMC) calls for the provisional II certification from the university. However, the issuance of the provisional II certification can only be done on the basis of an order from the Medical Council of India, in the absence of which the students are not able to enroll themselves with the state Medical Council or get admission in the post graduate courses for the present academic year.

The MCI had earlier barred Sri Muthukumaran Medical college from admitting students when it found that the college did not meet the required standards. The students though had managed to get a favorable court order for themselves leading to a temporary registration with the TNMC and the granting of the provisional 1 certificate. They also managed to complete their CRRI last year.

"Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Executive Committe of MCI have recognized 2010 batch of our college. MCI in its executive committee meeting passed the order for recognition. But, the university is waiting for the order copy, which will take a few months," said S Manoj Prabhakar, one of the affected students.

There is speculation about university insistence on a formal order . Though, in the past the MCI has been seen to have provided recognition, without these orders to many colleges. According to a source, the MCI has also filed its granting of recognition to the 2010 batch in the court. A fact that has been confirmed through an official confirmation by the MCI, state TNMC sources.

"A few of our batch mates secured good ranks in the PG entrance exam conducted by All India Medical Sciences(AIIMS) and Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh this month. But could not participate in the counselling of AIIMS,which is scheduled for the second week of December and also in PGIMER counseling to be held this month end. Without provisional certificate II, we could not register our course. We are also unemployed for eight months now," said Manoj Prabhakar.

Talking to Express, T Balasubramanian, Registrar of the University, said there was no direct communication from MCI to the university. "MCI should recognize the institution. We have not received any orders on it. We cannot take advocate's version, who says that MCI had granted permission and submitted so in the court. We also have written three letters to MCI asking if its true, but we didn't receive any response from them. Without recognition, nothing can be done, we need to get it on paper."