Uncertainty over MCI nod to 3 state colleges

Patna: The Medical Council of India (MCI) has not accepted the compliance reports sent to it by medical colleges of Muzaffarpur, Gaya and Bettiah.
Having detected deficiencies during an inspection of these colleges, the MCI had given a deadline to them to remove the deficiencies and send compliance reports. State health department sources said the MCI has refused to accept the compliance report of even Patna Medical College.
If the MCI had its way now, it may not allow admissions to the 50 MBBS seats each in the three colleges; that is, a loss of 150 MBBS seats to Bihar.
The Sri Krishna Medical College (SKMC) in Muzaffarpur has altogether 100 seats, of which 50 seats would have to be kept vacant because the MCI is miffed with shortage of faculty members. The initial report put the shortage at 22.5%, which has been reduced to 17.64%, according to the compliance report. The MCI is, however, not impressed.
That the CT-scan machine at SKMC is non-functional has also angered the MCI. It further says the college does not have a central research laboratory and lecture theatre. "Seven of the 19 deficiencies are yet to be rectified," the MCI writes back.
The faculty shortage at Anugrah Narayan Magadh Medical College (ANMMC) in Gaya is 36.43%. The college has told the MCI the vacancies would be filled up within three months. But May 15 is the deadline for the MCI to take a call on colleges across the country.
The MCI inspection team had also detected 88.13% shortage of residents in ANMMC. Though this Gaya college has written to the MCI that five senior and 19 junior residents have been appointed, it has apparently not moved the MCI. Its inspectors had also found that most of the ANMMC residents did not stay on the campus.
The bed occupancy rate in ANMMC on the day of inspection was merely 49%. The college has not explained this in its compliance report. Absence of blood component separation equipment and central clinical laboratory is also an issue. In all, 15 of the 34 deficiencies in ANMMC have not been rectified, say the sources.
The Government Medical College in Bettiah could also not rectify three deficiencies, but it said in the compliance report that the faculty shortage of 36.45% has been worked upon and "faculty position is satisfactory".
Meanwhile, if PMCH's compliance report is also thrown out by the MCI, it would mean Bihar's loss of 50 more MBBS seats in addition to the 150 seats in the three above-mentioned colleges.