Surprise inspections were done by teams of doctors at 12 private medical colleges in as many as five cities in India. The team was formed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India and the private medical colleges came under the radar when it was alleged that they were unsuccessful in conforming to the minimum standard requirements that have been prescribed. One of them has been shut down.
As far as the rest of the colleges are concerned, show cause notices have been issued to them and it is the National Medical Commission (NMC) who will make a decision regarding how to proceed against them, official sources informed news agency PTI.
It was Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya himself who monitored these surprise inspections.
Because of the pandemic, formalities like giving approval and recognising a few colleges were done through video conferences and post this, the ministry has been getting complaints against a few of them.
"Teams of three to six doctors each were formed by the Union Health Ministry which carried out surprise inspections at 12 medical colleges alleged to have sub-optimal training and teaching programme in Dhule, Jabalpur, Udaipur, Hyderabad and Chennai since January 15 this year," a health ministry source said.
Fewer patients than what is necessary to run a medical college, faculty numbers not in sync with what was depicted on paper and lapses in infrastructure — these are some of the deficiencies which were noted during the inspections. And to ensure secrecy, members of the team did not know which college had to be inspected until the day of inspection.
"The health minister briefed the faculty members and created a core team of dedicated officers and officials in the ministry to ensure that the secrecy of the operations is maintained and the inspection of the medical colleges is done as per the prescribed protocol," the source said.
The official source went on to say that via this inspection exercise, the health minister has given out a message of "zero-tolerance towards compromising with the quality of medical education in the country." He also said that surprise inspections will be conducted at more medical colleges.
There are over 650 medical colleges in the country and the NMC Act 2019 makes it mandatory for them to adhere to minimum standard requirements which have been set by the National Medical Commission (NMC).
As per a report in ANI, On February 24, 2022, inspections were conducted at five colleges Anantha Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Udaipur; American International Institute of Medical Sciences, Udaipur; Geetanjali Medical College, Udaipur; Pacific Institute of Medical Science (UMARDA), Udaipur and Sukh Sagar Medical College and Hospital, Jabalpur.
The team conducted inspections on March 30, 2022, at six other colleges including VELS Medical College Manjankaranai, Tamil Nadu; Mahavir Institute of Medical Sciences, Vikarabad, Telangana; CMR Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad; MNR Medical College & Hospital, Sangareddy, Telangana; TRR Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad; and Arundathi Institute of Medical Sciences, MLR avenue, Dundigal, Telangana.
