Madhya Pradesh medical colleges face de-recognition

BHOPAL - All five medical institutions run by the Madhya Pradesh government are facing the threat of de-recognition for not meeting Medical Council of India (MCI) norms, but the colleges are unfazed and say this is a routine affair.

None of the five institutions run by the state have found mention in the MCI’s list of recognised colleges that was published and distributed Tuesday with the prospectus of the Pre-PG Medical Entrance Test conducted by All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS).

These are the MGM Medical College (Indore), Shyam Shah Medical College (Rewa), Gandhi Medical College (Bhopal), Gajra Raja Medical College (Gwalior) and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College (Jabalpur).

The MCI undertakes periodic inspection of medical colleges in order to maintain the standard of medical education and health services in the country and during one such inspection in 2006 it had pointed out several shortcomings in all the five medical colleges.

“The medical colleges in the state were found to be short by 40 percent of the requirements as per MCI norms and nothing much has been done to eliminate those shortcomings till now,” said a Gandhi Medical College Faculty member who wished to remain anonymous.

“The medical colleges which are found not meeting the requirement as per the MCI regulations are recommended for withdrawal of recognition to the central government and the MCI has already done that,” the member said.

K.K. Prajapati, state president of the Junior Doctor Association (JDA), said: “This has baffled us. The fact that all the five medical colleges of the state are on the verge of de-recognition for not abiding by MCI norms has put the future of thousands of medical students in the dark.

“Also, those aspiring for admission for post graduation while staying in the state don’t know where to go.”

Prajapati said: “The MCI had warned the state government in the past to do the needful or face de-recognition, but nothing much has been done to improve the standard of education and provision of requisite facilities in these colleges in the past two years.

“We too have been constantly pressing for improvements as per MCI norms and also made it an issue during our statewide protests two months ago, but to no avail.”

This is the third consecutive year when the names of the medical colleges run by the state are missing from the list of colleges mentioned in the prospectus.

However, the medical college authorities appear to be least bothered and say it is a routine affair.

“This is not the first time. The names of our colleges have been missing from the prospectus for the past two years, but students have been getting admission in these colleges and pursuing their studies,” said Bhanu Dubey, dean, Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal.

“We will be able to seek permission from the MCI for admission to these colleges once again,” he hoped.

Nirbhay Shrivastava, medical education director in-charge at the same college, said: “We got the information last evening only. We will take up the matter with the authorities concerned after collecting facts and they (doctors) would appear for the exams as has been the case in the past two years. There is nothing to worry about.”