GMCH faces MCI inspection after 10 years

NAGPUR: Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) will finally face an inspection by Medical Council of India (MCI), after a gap of ten years, for recognition of it's undergraduate degree.
Dr A Niswade, acting dean, GMCH, confirmed that a MCI team will be in the city to conduct the two-day inspection on Friday and Saturday. Although technically all medical colleges are expected to seek the renewal of recognition every five years, MCI had last conducted an inspection for UG recognition at GMCH in December 1998.
Sources in GMCH and MCI say that the state government did not send a request for an inspection after five years as per procedure. When it did send a request, the MCI agreed to inspect the college but the government managed to postpone the inspection at least thrice during this period on some or the other grounds. The MCI had accepted all excuses for postponing the inspection. Now, GMCH is all set to face the inspection as apparently the conditions are in favour of the college.
"The college's degree stands recognised until MCI formally derecognises it. If the college does not apply for recognition on time, the recognition doesn't stand cancelled automatically. This cannot be so since students cannot be held to ransom for no fault of theirs. There is a deemed recognition till the next renewal," said a senior MCI official. He said that the degrees of all students will be recognised with retrospective effect once the MCI gives a green signal after this inspection.
GMCH, being one of only two colleges in state to have 200 UG seats, is an important college for the state government and it cannot afford to ignore the certification. But it also could not ask for an inspection here as this college has the most staff and acted as a bank of teachers, who could be transferred anywhere in the state to meet MCI norms for smaller colleges.
"We were seriously concerned every time our teachers were sent to other colleges, as they cannot be shown on our staff in case of an inspection here for at least a year from the date of transfer. Luckily this time all the teachers transferred to other places can be shown back on our rolls since the academic year for MCI begins in August every year and there have been no inspections in any medical college since then," remarked a senior teacher.