In just the last two months, over 40 medical colleges in India have been de-recognised by the National Medical Commission (NMC) for not adhering to the standards that have been set, an official source told PTI on Tuesday, May 30.
Medical colleges in West Bengal, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Punjab, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu might also have to face a similar situation with over 100 of them poised to face similar action, stated the PTI report.
Lapses when it comes to faculty member rolls, lining Aadhar with biometric attendance and discrepancies in CCTV cameras were noted when investigations were carried out by the NMC at the medical colleges and hence, it was found that they are not in adherence with the set norms.
Colleges, MBBS, PG seats, numbers have only gone up
As per data from the government, since the year 2014, number of medical colleges has gone up. From 387 in 2014 to 654 now, the number has gone up by 69%, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar had informed in the Rajya Sabha in February.
Here are other spikes noted:
1) From 51,348 before the year 2014 to 99,763 now, MBBS seats saw 94% spike
2) From 31,185 before the year 2014 to 64,559 now, the spike is 107% when it comes to postgraduate (PG) seats
Experts from the medical field pointed out the reliance of NMC on the Aadhaar-enabled biometric attendance system as it considers only those faculty members who are on duty from 8 am to 2 pm.
Experts share their concerns
"But the working hours of doctors are not fixed. They have to work in emergency and night shifts also. So the NMC's rigidity with the working hours has created this issue. Such micro-management of medical colleges is not practical and the NMC needs to be flexible to such issues," an expert said.
Another expert said, "The NMC is derecognising medical colleges believing there are deficiencies. At the same time, the NMC has also allowed the registration of students in such colleges, which is a contradiction.
"Moreover, such experiment is tarnishing India's image at the global level because India is the largest supplier of doctors and with such instances coming to light, the world will lose confidence in Indian doctors," the expert shared.
