150 MBBS students lose a year, pin hopes on govt

BENGALURU: Nursing dreams of being doctors, 150 students are staring at an uncertain future. The medicos from Shridevi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Hospital, Tumakuru, have lost one precious year as classes have been in abeyance for months. The reason: The college is not recognized by the Medical Council of India (MCI). At their wits’ end, the MBBS students are now hoping the government comes to their rescue.

MCI denied approval to the institute for 2015-2016, citing poor infrastructure. On October 16, 2015, the council filed a case against the college for deficiency. A week later, a group of students approached the Supreme Court pleading for the classes to resume. The case was referred to Karnataka High Court on January 21 following the SC’s intervention. However, the HC has said it can reallocate the students to other colleges only if the state government comes forward with the proposal.

Of the 150 students, 60 got admission via CET, 60 through ComedK and 30 under the management quota. They allege not only the college but even the government kept them in the dark. “With a rank of 1582 (general merit) in CET, I got admission in Basaveshwar Medical College, Chitradurga. But I opted for Shridevi college because of its proximity to Bengaluru. At 10pm on September 28, 2015, KEA announced the seat matrix and the online option entry was open till 10 am on September 29,” said Vishnu Chandrashekar, a student.

By the noon of September 29, students got their allotment results by downloading the admission order. “We were in for a rude shock. The order cited the college was under litigation. All students who had got admission via CET tried to go back to their previous medical college but that is not allowed under Karnataka Examination Authority rules,” he added. Vishnu alleged the students were misled into believing the college is recognized since KEA included it in the last round of counselling.

College had got provisional nod from HC

As the college didn’t have the MCI nod, it approached the Karnataka High Court and got provisional permission to admit students by an interim order on on September 28. But the HC had clearly instructed the government, KEA and the college to inform students about the risky nature of the seats.

“When the counselling was going on, AIPMT seats were addded as well as removed by the SC, and we were kept informed of the developments by the directorate of medical education (DME). Every time there was a new court order, we would download a letter sent by the DME from the KEA website. DME could have told us about the college being under litigation, saving us from this predicament,” rued a students, voicing the batch’s concerns.

The institute was established by Sri Shridevi Charitable Trust, Tumakuru, three years ago. Dr Raman Hulinaykar, MD of the institute, said, “MCI comes for inspection every year. This year, they denied us recognition on the grounds of inadequate infrastructure. The case is still in court; it was shifted to the high court and then moved back to the Supreme Court. During a recent hearing, the SC said it will take up the matter along with the cases of over 50 medical colleges across India who were denied recognition by MCI”.

Hulinaykar said MCI didn’t come for a re-inspection.

Vexed voices

We are bearing the brunt of the legal tussle between MCI and the college. We’ve lost a whole year for no fault of our own. All we want is admission to a different college

Supraja R, student, CET quota

Many students have come from north India through ComedK and have taken educational loans. Several students are still staying in the hostel, waiting for the judgement. Some have wasted one to two years to get a medical seat. Students who secured a lesser rank than me are pursuing MBBS in other colleges.

Vivek Ramesh, ComedK

TN, Odisha govts helped
DD Medical College, Chennai and Sardar Rajas Medical College, Odisha, faced similar problems in 2009 and 2016 respectively. So the high courts reallocated the students to other recognized medical colleges. The governments of