Fate of Doda uncertain
Govind Sharma
JAMMU, May 28: Government Medical Colleges (GMCs) Kathua and Rajouri are likely to get Medical Council of India (MCI) nod for starting first academic session with 100 MBBS seats from the makeshift arrangements whereas there is uncertainty with regard to GMC Doda.
Sources in Medical Education Department told Excelsior that in a meeting of Board of Governors of Medical Council of India held this morning in Delhi to decide the fate of three new Medical Colleges of Jammu Division, which failed to raise necessary infrastructure and other requirements as per MCI rules, the higher authorities of Medical Education Department succeeded in convincing the Board of Governors that GMC Kathua and Rajouri are in a position to start the fist academic session with 100 MBBS seats while they failed to satisfy them regarding GMC Doda where there is severe shortage of staff.
Though no formal communication has been received by Principals of GMC Kathua and Rajouri yet sources said that the Board of Governors agreed to give nod to GMC Kathua and GMC Rajouri to start 1st academic session from this year with 100 MBBS seats.
About GMC Doda, sources said in view of severe shortage of faculty members and other staff, the authorities from the State made request for grant of permission to the College to start this academic session with 50 seats but MCI Board was reluctant to consider the submission.
Sources informed that MCI teams in the month of December conducted back to back inspections in three new GMCs of the State and pointed out large scale deficiencies regarding infrastructure, faculty, residents, make-shift arrangements for starting first session, associated hospitals, machinery & equipment, etc in all the colleges.
“The teams from MCI again visited all the three Medical Colleges between April 20 and May 10 this year to see whether the authorities of these colleges have removed the shortcomings pointed out by them in their earlier visits,” sources said, adding in GMC Rajouri, the MCI inspectors pointed out deficiencies only regarding Residents (77. 78 percent) and Faculty (16.95 %).
“In GMC Kathua, the team observed deficiency regarding some facilities in make-shift arrangements like library, lecture halls, laboratories etc, while severe shortage of faculty, besides infrastructure was pointed out by the team in GMC Doda,” sources further informed.
However, sources said that the higher authorities of Medical Education Department of the State who were called by the MCI Board of Governors to Delhi today to review their cases, succeeded in convincing them that GMC Kathua and Rajouri are in a position to start 1st academic session from the make-shift arrangements as all major deficiencies have been overcome in both the colleges while the main building and infrastructure will be ready by June 2020 for second batch.
When contacted, Principal, GMC Doda, Dr Tariq Azad, said that they have sought permission to start session for 50 seats due to huge shortage of faculty but the MCI Governors were reluctant. “However, we have applied for reconsideration of our case and the MCI has also written to Government for some amendment in existing rules so that permission may be granted to us and other 30 colleges of the country whose case is similar to ours,” Dr Azad said.
Dr Kuldeep Singh, Principal, GMC Rajouri and Dr Shashi Sharma, Principal, GMC Kathua, speaking to the Excelsior expressed optimism over getting MCI nod shortly. “No formal communication has been received by us from the MCI but we are assured of getting the LoP within a day or two as MCI Governors were satisfied with our arguments,” they added.
Pertinent to mention here that GMC Anantnag and GMC Baramulla have already received LoP from MCI to start 2019-20 academic session with 100 MBBS seats each.
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