NEW DELHI: The Federation of All India Medical Associations (FAIMA) wrote to the National Medical Commission (NMC) on Monday after students of a government medical college in Faridabad alleged severe infrastructure and academic gaps since its inception.
Despite approvals and inspections, issues like poor electricity, water shortages, non-functional inpatient department (IPD) services, minimal patient load, and lack of faculty persist, which led to rising concerns over training quality and the institution’s readiness as tertiary care centre.
Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government Medical College, located in Chhainsa, was approved by NMC in 2020, and at that time even the outpatient department (OPD) was not functional.
Students allege that even though OPD has started now, the patient load is minimal. Additionally, IPD services are still non-functional, and patients are compelled to buy essential medicines from outside due to poor pharmacy services.
Additionally, basic needs like electricity supply and water supply persist, with many complaints regarding faulty wiring and incompetent generators and panels, along with non-availability of drinking water in the college building.
Most importantly, clinical departments of general medicine, radiology, obstetrics and gynaecology, and psychiatry have no faculties at present. Also, other clinical departments have one or two faculties at the most.
Speaking to the newspaper, one of the final-year students said, “From 2022 to 2026, they kept saying OPD and IPD services will start soon, but nothing has happened.”
He said that there are power cuts at night even before exams, which directly affects their studies. “We’ve raised complaints multiple times to deans and higher authorities, but no action has been taken,” he said.
A student, who refused to be named, also said, “We are in our final year, and there hasn’t been a single surgery performed that we’ve could observe. How can we become doctors without seeing real cases?”.
He claimed that even basic inspections and quality checks are not done properly. “Despite repeated issues, new batches keep getting admitted, but no one listens to us,” he said, adding, “We just want to be heard urgently – this is about our careers and patient safety.”
The matter has caught attention after the doctor’s association wrote the letter to the NMC.They have also sent a copy of the letter to the health minister of Haryana.
“The situation is extremely pathetic, and medical education cannot function like this. If we don’t see progress within a week, we will escalate the issue directly to the chief minister of Haryana,” said Dr Jaideep Kumar Choudhary, National Chairman, FAIMA.
“Some of our representatives are also planning to meet the CM,” he said while also stating, “We are giving the authorities one week, and after that, we will take stronger action.”
The FAIMA president said, “This is not an isolated issue; many newly constructed medical colleges are facing similar problems. In Jharkhand, colleges like Medini Rai Medical College, MMCH Palamu, and Phulo Jano Medical College lack even basic faculty.” He said, “We are receiving complaints from multiple new medical colleges across the country, and we have already written to the Union health minister about this issue.”
This story is reported by Aditi Ray Chowdhury