40 medical colleges de-recognised, total of 150 might face action
The National Medical Commission recently withdrew recognition to 40 medical colleges across the country for non-compliance with rules, with a total of 150 facing such action in the coming days. They can appeal to the commission within 30 days and if unsuccessful, approach the Union Ministry of Health.
As a result of action taken by the National Medical Commission (NMC) for non-compliance with rules, 40 medical colleges across the country have lost recognition, and the total could reach 150, according to several reports in the media.
The 40 colleges already de-recognised must now show to the NMC within 30 days that they are following set standards. If the appeal is rejected, they can approach the Union Ministry of Health.
NMC’s Dr Rajeev Sood told Quint being de-recognised is not a final decision, and that this is happening more now because monitoring has become stricter.
The withdrawal of recognition has happened for three primary reasons:
- Lapses in security systems and CCTV cameras in classrooms and medical wards
- Lapses in Aadhar-based biometric attendance for faculty members
- Vacant faculty posts
Dr Faiz Abbas Abidi, who works on biomedical research, public health issues and digital health interventions, told Quint that that contractual doctors, paramedic staff and temporary and guest faculty cannot be allowed to run wards and manage hospitals, which is the case with many of the derecognised institutions.
However, as per a report in Mint, experts from the medical field said the Aadhaar-enabled biometric attendance system considers only the faculty who are on duty during the daytime from 8 am to 2 pm.
While a majority of the colleges are in Puducherry, Gujarat, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Tripura, Bengal and Assam, the list includes Tamil Nadu’s reputed Stanley Medical College and a college in Arunachal Pradesh that is over a century old.
Since 2014, when the Modi government came to power, there has been a whopping increase in medical education infrastructure. The Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar has said in the Rajya Sabha that there has been a 69 per cent increase in medical colleges (from 387 to 654), consequent to which MBBS seats have increased by over 94 per cent (from 51,348 to 99,763) and 107 per cent increase in MD/MS seats (from 31,185 to 64,559).
However, what matters is compliance with rules, with Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya warning in December that action would be taken against medical colleges which do not stick to rules or maintain proper faculty.
