Maharashtra Ramping up Manpower, to Appeal Against NMC Rejection for Proposed GMCs
Mumbai: After the National Medical Commission's (NMC) rejection to approve the proposed government medical colleges in Maharashtra, the State Government is ramping up the manpower as it is planning to appeal before the Commission in this regard.
Confirming this, a senior official from the State Medical Education Department told Indian Express, "We will appeal against the decision. Simultaneously, we are ramping up manpower."
The Department is planning to fill up the faculty positions on a contractual basis and aims to fill up at least 30% of the 800 pending positions of Assistant Professors, 167 positions of Associate Professors, and 400 positions of Professors.
Medical Dialogues recently reported that only two out of twelve medical colleges in Maharashtra have received the National Medical Commission's (NMC) approval for starting new medical colleges.
While altogether 10 government-run medical colleges had submitted proposals to the Apex Medical Commission for starting new medical institutes, NMC approved only one. This newly approved government medical college will come up on the common campus of Gokuldas Tejpal (GT) and Cama hospitals in the Fort area. Besides this government medical college, NMC has also approved a private deemed university based in Nerul, i.e., MGM Institute of Health Sciences, to start operating from 2024-2025. Even though MGM Institute had applied for NMC permission for 100 MBBS seats, the Commission approved 50 MBBS seats. Both institutes will offer 50 MBBS seats.
Also Read: NMC Nod to Only 2 out of 12 New Medical Colleges In Maharashtra
On the other hand, the Commission rejected the proposals of medical colleges in Jalna, Bhandara, Washim, Buldhana, Gadchiroli, Nashik, Amravati, Ambernath, and Hingoli districts as these institutes failed to meet the essential standards set by NMC. In the case of SIMS Aurangabad, the institute was issued a notice regarding the deficiencies and was asked to comply with the prescribed norms within 15 days.
As per the latest media report by Indian Express, the rejection on the part of the NMC was primarily because of inadequate facilities in rural areas including lack of clean drinking water and insufficient infrastructure. Currently, the State is planning to address these shortcomings and reapply before the Commission for its approval.
"We are committed to meeting all conditions set by the commission," a senior department official told the Daily.
Meanwhile, commenting on the matter, the Secretary of the Medical Education Department, Dinesh Waghmare highlighted that the shortage of skilled manpower was a key reason for NMC's rejection of the proposals. He added, "If necessary, we will arrange contractual manpower."
In order to ensure that there is an adequate number of staff in the newly established rural medical colleges such as Gadchiroli, Hingoli, and Jalna, the State is considering transferring professors from the existing medical colleges. However, such participations will be voluntary in nature.
Currently, there are around 8,000 MBBS seats available in Maharashtra. Addition of 800 medical seats in the new medical colleges is aimed to enhance the healthcare access in the State. In this regard, the State Government has allocated approximately Rs 97 crore from its supplementary budget to staff and equip these new institutes.
Recently the Maharashtra Medical Education Minister Hasan Mushrif also stated that the Government was trying to start 10 new medical colleges in the State from this academic year.
he had also mentioned that an appeal would be filed with the NMC for the proposed nine GMCs, adding that efforts were being made to obtain permission for these colleges by submitting an undertaking regarding the commission of errors by the government at the hearing of this appeal.
Also Read: Maharashtra to file appeal before NMC for proposed 9 GMCs
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