9 Medical Colleges under NMC Scanner continue to be banned from admitting students to 1500 MBBS seats

New Delhi: Altogether 1,500 seats belonging to nine medical colleges across the Country will remain unavailable for the MBBS aspirants joining the course this year i.e. during the academic year 2023-2024.

Among these nine colleges, two each are from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, and one each from Punjab, Maharashtra, Uttar pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar. These colleges, all of which are either private or trust-run, came under the scanner of the National Medical Commission (NMC) earlier this year. 

The Apex medical commission debarred these institutes from admitting students this academic year after pointing out major deficiencies at the institutes. These institutes are among around 150 medical institutes which came under the scanner of the Apex medical commission previously.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that in a major crackdown over non-compliance to the mandated standards for imparting medical courses, NMC de-recognised around 40 medical colleges and 100 other institutes were under the scanner of the Commission.

Reportedly, NMC took this action as it found that those institutes were not complying with the norms as well as lapses pertaining to faculty and security (CCTV) cameras.

Also Read: Medical Education in Jeopardy: 40 medical colleges lose NMC recognition over non-compliance, 100 more under scanner

Referring to this, an NMC official told Indian Express, “Most colleges have been recognised again after appeal to the NMC or health ministry. This is because the colleges, especially the well-established or government ones, corrected minor deficiencies. For example, some colleges had stopped marking attendance on the biometric system since Covid-19. Some colleges did not have enough faculty members. If the deficiency is not more than 10 per cent, departments can admit students for the year while they fill up positions.”

The official added: “Major deficiencies were still found at some colleges. If a medical college hospital has a shortage of patients and faculty members to the extent that cannot be immediately corrected, they will not be allowed to take in students for the current batch.”

The Daily adds that nine of such 150 medical colleges continue to be debarred from admitting students this year. At least two colleges among these institutes are facing allegations of non-cooperation and misbehavior from the assessment team.

Commenting on the matter, a senior Punjab Government official earlier told the Indian Express that during the physical inspection of a private medical college in Punjab, the apex medical commission found out that the college was not conducting studies and there were not any patients either. Referring to this, the official said, “Many students are lured into enrolling in such institutes and are unable to receive proper education.” This concerned college is one of the nine colleges which has not yet received the NMC nod for admitting students.