Recognition of 40 medical colleges over: Action, threat to hundred more colleges for not following the standards set by the National Medical Commission

In the last two months, around 40 medical colleges in the country have lost their affiliation for not following the standards set by the National Medical Commission (NMC). Similar action is likely to be taken on about 100 more medical colleges in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Assam, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry and West Bengal.

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NMC found several lapses in these medical colleges during the inspection carried out for more than a month. Flaws have been found in CCTV cameras, Aadhaar linked biometric attendance process and faculty rolls. These colleges were not following other standards including installation of proper cameras and their functioning. Biometric facility was not good. Faculty position posts were found vacant in many departments.

According to government data, the number of medical colleges has increased significantly since 2014. Minister of State for Health Bharti Praveen Pawar told the Rajya Sabha in February that there were 387 medical colleges in the country in 2014, but now their number has increased to 654 with an increase of 69 per cent. Also, there has been an increase of 94 per cent in MBBS seats from 51,348 seats before 2014 to 99,763 now. PG seats have increased by 107 percent from 31,185 seats before 2014 to 64,559 now. There are now 22 All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in the country, up from seven in 2014.

Can appeal within 30 days
Sources said the medical colleges have the option of appealing. First appeal can be made to NMC within 30 days. If the appeal is rejected, they can approach the Union Health Ministry. In December, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya warned of action against medical colleges that do not follow rules or have proper faculty. He had said that we have to provide quality education to the students, we have to prepare good doctors.

Efforts to increase the number of doctors
Minister of State Bharti Praveen Pawar had said that to increase the number of doctors in the country, the government first increased the number of medical colleges and then increased the MBBS seats. The measures and steps taken by the government to increase the number of medical seats in the country include a central government scheme for setting up new medical colleges by upgrading district/referral hospitals. Under which 94 out of 157 approved new medical colleges are already functional.

Medical experts said – the working hours of doctors are not fixed
Reacting to the de-affiliation of medical colleges, medical experts said the NMC is largely dependent on the Aadhaar-linked biometric attendance system, for which it considers only those faculty who report from 8 am to 2 pm during the day. are on duty at the time of An expert said that the working hours of doctors are not fixed. They also have to work in emergency and night shifts. Hence the strictness of NMC regarding working hours has created this issue.

Such micro management is not practical for medical colleges and NMC should be flexible towards such issues. Another expert said, NMC is de-affiliating medical colleges considering deficiencies. Also, NMC has allowed registration of students in such colleges, which is contradictory. Moreover, such use is tarnishing the image of India globally as India is the biggest supplier of doctors and the world will lose faith in Indian doctors if such cases come to the fore.