TRICHY: Members of the Medical Council of India (MCI) made a surprise visit to KAP Viswanatham Government Medical College (KAPVGMC) attached to Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital (MGMGH) here on Thursday, to decide whether the college should continue having 50 additional MBBS seats.
The team, comprising Dr T S Renganath, Dr K Sivasankara Rao and Dr Thathiri Parmar, inspected the wards in MGMGH and the hostels, canteen and classrooms in KAPVGMC. The whole visit was videographed and photographed.
The state government had raised MBBS seats in KAPVGMC from 100 to 150 in 2013-14, but since then, it has been struggling to meet the MCI requirements for conducting MBBS course with 150 seats. The latest visit follows two earlier visits in May and November, 2014. In November, the MCI team had made adverse remarks about the facilities and manpower available at the college for conducting MBBS classes with 150 seats, hospital sources said. The recognition for additional seats had been pending ever since and Thursday's visit is considered crucial.
The team checked whether some of the discrepancies pointed out to the hospital authorities by the council during the last visit had been rectified.
Shortage of doctors remains one of the serious problems faced by the college and the hospital, a situation that has remained unchanged for several years now. The teams from MCI reportedly pointed out the shortage and advised the government to increase the number of faculty. In the wake of pending approvals for many medical colleges across the state, the ministry of health family welfare of Tamil Nadu had announced the appointment of new doctors. KAPVGMC was sanctioned 57 doctors, besides 27 associate professors, 17 assistant professors and 19 tutors on a permanent basis, at an approximate cost of Rs 2.98 crore per annum. However, only a few of these posts have been filled so far. Hospital staff said many qualified doctors were not interested to join government hospitals due to the workload.
At the time of the earlier visit by MCI members, TOI had reported about doctors being allegedly hired temporarily from primary health centres and government hospitals to show that the college had enough manpower.
Dr M K Muralitharan, newly-appointed dean of the college, was out of town at the time of the visit. Dr Parmar told TOI that the visit was a routine procedure for approval and accreditation of courses. However, when asked if the college satisfied the required norms, including number of faculty, she refused to comment.
The team, comprising Dr T S Renganath, Dr K Sivasankara Rao and Dr Thathiri Parmar, inspected the wards in MGMGH and the hostels, canteen and classrooms in KAPVGMC. The whole visit was videographed and photographed.
The state government had raised MBBS seats in KAPVGMC from 100 to 150 in 2013-14, but since then, it has been struggling to meet the MCI requirements for conducting MBBS course with 150 seats. The latest visit follows two earlier visits in May and November, 2014. In November, the MCI team had made adverse remarks about the facilities and manpower available at the college for conducting MBBS classes with 150 seats, hospital sources said. The recognition for additional seats had been pending ever since and Thursday's visit is considered crucial.
The team checked whether some of the discrepancies pointed out to the hospital authorities by the council during the last visit had been rectified.
Shortage of doctors remains one of the serious problems faced by the college and the hospital, a situation that has remained unchanged for several years now. The teams from MCI reportedly pointed out the shortage and advised the government to increase the number of faculty. In the wake of pending approvals for many medical colleges across the state, the ministry of health family welfare of Tamil Nadu had announced the appointment of new doctors. KAPVGMC was sanctioned 57 doctors, besides 27 associate professors, 17 assistant professors and 19 tutors on a permanent basis, at an approximate cost of Rs 2.98 crore per annum. However, only a few of these posts have been filled so far. Hospital staff said many qualified doctors were not interested to join government hospitals due to the workload.
At the time of the earlier visit by MCI members, TOI had reported about doctors being allegedly hired temporarily from primary health centres and government hospitals to show that the college had enough manpower.
Dr M K Muralitharan, newly-appointed dean of the college, was out of town at the time of the visit. Dr Parmar told TOI that the visit was a routine procedure for approval and accreditation of courses. However, when asked if the college satisfied the required norms, including number of faculty, she refused to comment.
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