SuMo blames CM for MCI action against five colleges

Patna: Former deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi on Saturday held CM Nitish Kumar responsible for the Medical Council of India (MCI) strictures against five medical colleges at Bettiah, Pawapuri, Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur and Gaya in Bihar.
Modi said the MCI has stopped admission in the Bettiah and Pawapuri medical colleges because of the lack of sufficient number of teachers as per the norms, and inadequate infrastructure facilities available there.The MCI also stopped admissions on increased number of seats in the Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur and Gaya medical colleges for lack of teachers against the required strength, he added.
He said after the fall of the NDA government in the state, the health department was under CM Nitish and, therefore, he should have apprehended the problem and taken requisite steps to escape the MCI action against the Bettiah and Pawapuri medical colleges. They have invited MCI strictures just after two years of their opening, he said.
Moreover, state chief secretary had given an undertaking to the MCI last year that 90% of the shortcomings at all the medical colleges, including at Bettiah and Pawapuri, would be removed, Modi said, adding the state government did not attend to the assurances and undertaking given to the MCI by the chief secretary.
Stating that the state government, in fact, has been indifferent to the health department and medical education, he said it has not sought MCI inspection of the medical college at Madhepura for the last seven years. Given the backdrop, the opening of new medical colleges at Purnia, Samastipur and Chhapra appears to have gone into abeyance, Modi said.