THE TELEGRAPH
Regulator vetoes plans for 80 medical colleges
Our special correspondent
New Delhi, June 11: The Medical Council of India has disapproved proposals for over 80 new medical colleges from across the country for want of required infrastructure and launched a faculty census in existing colleges in a move to crack down on ghost faculty.
The MCI, the nation's apex regulator of medical education, has also denied permission to 47 medical colleges to expand their intake of MBBS students during the 2016-17 batch. The colleges had wanted to increase the intake of students entering the first year from 100 to 150, 50 to 150, or 150 to 250.
The Union health ministry has communicated the disapproval for new medical colleges to the institutions across several states, including the Durgapur Institute of Advanced Technology and Management Society, Durgapur, Bengal; the Shree Narayan Foundation, Saharsa, Bihar; and the Shree Lakshmi Ammal Educational Trust, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
The letters from the health ministry do not cite specific reasons for the disapprovals, but senior medical faculty point out that the MCI would be expected to turn down proposals if colleges do not have the required infrastructure, an adequate number of patients and sufficient faculty.
Sections of medical educationists have long complained that many of India's over 380 medical colleges that have an annual intake of about 50,000 students do not have adequate number of qualified faculty. Doctors involved in the process of inspecting college infrastructure have in the past documented ghost faculty - doctors who pose as faculty in medical colleges only during inspections directed by the MCI.
Such doctors may be faculty in other institutions or doctors involved in private practice.
The MCI earlier this week also asked all medical colleges to furnish details of their faculty for the year 2016-17, asking each faculty member to declare qualifications, experience, details of appointment as faculty and the emoluments they have drawn from their colleges over the past year.
But some doctors believe a catalogue of medical faculty by itself will not be enough to crack down on ghost faculty.
"The MCI has done this earlier - but collecting and uploading faculty details is no solution," said Gurinder Singh Grewal, president of the Punjab Medical Council, who has in the past articulated his concerns about inaction by the MCI on ghost faculty among other issues related to medical education.
The proposals for expansion of intake of students had come from medical colleges from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telengana, Uttar Pradesh, among other states. The colleges have been asked to apply for fresh permission to accept students for the batch starting in 2017-18.
A parliamentary panel had earlier this year called for the dismantling of the MCI, saying it had failed to maintain quality standards in medical education and practice. Sections of doctors who have long criticised the functioning of the MCI had last month established a consortium offering to help the government establish an alternative regulatory mechanism to govern medical education and the practice of medicine in the country.
Grewal today urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to introduce strong laws against "medical corruption," which he has described as the "worst form of all corruption".
The doctor, in an open letter sent to the Prime Minister, said medical corruption is going unnoticed because of "misplaced faith" in the medical fraternity.
Grewal has cited exorbitant prices of drugs far above manufacturing costs, cuts and commissions shared by doctors for referring patients to other doctors or institutions, and unnecessary treatment or diagnostic tests as examples of medical corruption.
Regulator vetoes plans for 80 medical colleges
Our special correspondent
New Delhi, June 11: The Medical Council of India has disapproved proposals for over 80 new medical colleges from across the country for want of required infrastructure and launched a faculty census in existing colleges in a move to crack down on ghost faculty.
The MCI, the nation's apex regulator of medical education, has also denied permission to 47 medical colleges to expand their intake of MBBS students during the 2016-17 batch. The colleges had wanted to increase the intake of students entering the first year from 100 to 150, 50 to 150, or 150 to 250.
The Union health ministry has communicated the disapproval for new medical colleges to the institutions across several states, including the Durgapur Institute of Advanced Technology and Management Society, Durgapur, Bengal; the Shree Narayan Foundation, Saharsa, Bihar; and the Shree Lakshmi Ammal Educational Trust, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
The letters from the health ministry do not cite specific reasons for the disapprovals, but senior medical faculty point out that the MCI would be expected to turn down proposals if colleges do not have the required infrastructure, an adequate number of patients and sufficient faculty.
Sections of medical educationists have long complained that many of India's over 380 medical colleges that have an annual intake of about 50,000 students do not have adequate number of qualified faculty. Doctors involved in the process of inspecting college infrastructure have in the past documented ghost faculty - doctors who pose as faculty in medical colleges only during inspections directed by the MCI.
Such doctors may be faculty in other institutions or doctors involved in private practice.
The MCI earlier this week also asked all medical colleges to furnish details of their faculty for the year 2016-17, asking each faculty member to declare qualifications, experience, details of appointment as faculty and the emoluments they have drawn from their colleges over the past year.
But some doctors believe a catalogue of medical faculty by itself will not be enough to crack down on ghost faculty.
"The MCI has done this earlier - but collecting and uploading faculty details is no solution," said Gurinder Singh Grewal, president of the Punjab Medical Council, who has in the past articulated his concerns about inaction by the MCI on ghost faculty among other issues related to medical education.
The proposals for expansion of intake of students had come from medical colleges from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telengana, Uttar Pradesh, among other states. The colleges have been asked to apply for fresh permission to accept students for the batch starting in 2017-18.
A parliamentary panel had earlier this year called for the dismantling of the MCI, saying it had failed to maintain quality standards in medical education and practice. Sections of doctors who have long criticised the functioning of the MCI had last month established a consortium offering to help the government establish an alternative regulatory mechanism to govern medical education and the practice of medicine in the country.
Grewal today urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to introduce strong laws against "medical corruption," which he has described as the "worst form of all corruption".
The doctor, in an open letter sent to the Prime Minister, said medical corruption is going unnoticed because of "misplaced faith" in the medical fraternity.
Grewal has cited exorbitant prices of drugs far above manufacturing costs, cuts and commissions shared by doctors for referring patients to other doctors or institutions, and unnecessary treatment or diagnostic tests as examples of medical corruption.
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