12 Private Medical Colleges get surprise inspection from Health Ministry, found lacking meeting NMC norms

New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry has carried out a surprise inspection at 12 private medical colleges in five different cities and shut down one of them after reportedly finding that they were allegedly not conforming to prescribed minimum standard requirements.

A team of 3-5 doctors has been formed by the Union Health Ministry for inspection of medical colleges, sources told ANI.

The show-cause notices have been issued to some of these colleges and one of them was found closed. The National Medical Commission will decide further course of action against these colleges, sources said.

The NMC Act 2019 mandates that medical colleges conform to the minimum standard requirements prescribed by the National Medical Commission (NMC).

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Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya is monitoring these surprise inspections that began on January 14, 2022, with the team visiting colleges in Dhule, Udaipur, Jabalpur, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and others.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, formalities for granting approval and recognition to some colleges were done through video conferencing, after which the ministry has been receiving complaints against some 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.

The Observations made during the Inspection confirm several deficiencies such as fewer patients than what is required to run a medical college, the number of faculties not matching what was shown on paper, and infrastructural lapses.

To maintain the secrecy of the entire exercise, the team members were informed about the college which had to be inspected by them only on the day of the 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.

"Through this exercise, the health minister has given out a strong message of zero-tolerance towards compromising with the quality of medical education in the country," the official source said.

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--Six other colleges include 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.  

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