CPS admissions row: Centre Constitutes Committee to Look into CPS Courses Recognition

Mumbai: Taking cognisance of the letter by the Maharashtra Medical Education Department regarding the alleged "deficiencies" in the courses offered by the College of Physicians & Surgeons (CPS), the Central Government has now set up an eight-member committee to look into the matter.

Issuing an order in this regard on April 3, 2023, the Union Health Ministry mentioned that the panel will be headed by the Directorate General of Health Services Chief Dr. Atul Goel and the panel will consider the matters concerning the recognition of CPS courses and admissions.

The Committee will also include the vice-chancellor of Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS), and Lieutenant General Dr Madhuri Kanitkar. Besides, Maharashtra Medical Education Department and CPS will also have a representative in the concerned committee.

TOI adds that Dr. Ashwini Joshi, who had written to the Union Government regarding the issue, will represent the State Medical Education Department and attend the first meeting of the Committee in Delhi on Wednesday.

Established back in 1912, CPS Mumbai is an autonomous body that imparts Postgraduate medical education and offers fellowship, diploma and certificate courses for the medical professionals. For the Diploma courses, the tenure is of two years and in case of Fellowship, the tenure is three years. After obtaining the qualification granted by CPS Mumbai, the practitioners become allowed to register themselves as specialists in the concerned specialty.

Also Read: Institutes offering CPS courses lack adequate standards: Maharashtra Medical Education Department to Centre

The controversy regarding CPS admissions in Maharashtra commenced after referring to significant gaps in the standards of institutes offering College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS) affiliated courses, the medical education department of Maharashtra recently wrote to the Union Health Ministry asking for its opinion on whether counselling can be conducted for around 1,100 CPS seats.

Writing to the Centre, the department referred to the inspection of the Maharashtra Medical Council conducted last year and how during the inspection, MMC had found "severe deficiencies" in several institutes.

Recently Union Minister Nitin Gadkari supported the Association of CPS Affiliated Institutes and writing to the State Secretary, Gadkari criticized the medical education secretary Dr Ashwini Joshi.

The Union Minister called for intervention of State Chief Secretary and pointed out that in case of any further delays in the admission process of 2022, the association has expressed fear that the State could lose altogether 1,100 CPS seats.

However, the State Medical Education Department did not change its decision and sent a show-cause notice to the CPS management and demanded an explanation regarding the deficiencies found in its affiliated institutes within March 21. Meanwhile, CPS approached the Bombay HC bench and filed a plea in this regard seeking restarting the admission process.

As per the latest media report by the Times of India, around a month after the State Medical Education Department wrote to the Union Health Ministry, the Centre has set up an eight-member panel to consider the matter.

Commenting on this, a state official told the daily, "While the committee's mandate has not been clearly spelt out, it will definitely look at the lack of standardisation in choosing centres."

The official further added that the committee will also consider the matter of National Medical Commission's recognition of the courses offered by CPS, Mumbai.

Speaking about this, Dr. Subhas Pingle, who had inspected CPS-accredited institutes, added "I hope this committee will take a decision keeping in mind the needs of patients (about getting well-trained doctors) as well as that of medical graduates aspiring for post-graduate studies."

In this context, Dr. Pingle further mentioned that the idea is to come up with ways to raise CPS to the level of a PGI Chandigarh or AIIMS, Delhi.

Also Read: CPS Mumbai moves HC challenging state govt decision of barring admissions