Faculty Crunch, Irregular Attendance: NMC Issues Show-Cause Notices to WB Medical Colleges

Kolkata: The National Medical Commission (NMC) has issued show cause notices to several medical colleges in Bengal after finding out that the faculties at the medical colleges have been "irregular" and the teaching hospitals had an acute shortage of faculty, The Telegraph has reported.

According to the State Health Department sources, among the 38 medical colleges in the state, most of them were issued show-cause notices by the NMC.

The list also included Kolkata-based State-run Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital (NRSMCH). NMC, the Apex Medical Regulator in the Country, reportedly issued a show-cause notice to NRS Medical College, flagging altogether eight deficiencies.

Soon after the NRS Medical College was issued a show-cause notice by the NMC, the State Government issued an 'urgent order' on Monday, making it mandatory for the faculty members and senior residents of NRSMCH to mark their attendance twice a day (on arrival and departure) on the AEBAS (Aadhaar-Enabled Biometric Attendance System) FACE-based Aadhaar authentication application on their phone. 

Also Read: Faculty crisis: NMC issues show-cause notices to 34 TN Govt Medical Colleges

Apart from this, the State has also instructed the NRS medical college faculties and senior residents to apply for leave "via proper channel" on the online system, The Hindu has reported.

These show-cause notices have been issued by the Commission after it held a virtual meeting with the medical colleges earlier this month. During this meeting, the medical colleges were told about the lapses. Soon afterwards, the colleges started receiving letters.

In the case of NRS medical college, NMC in the show-cause notice cited that 18 out of 20 departments have insufficient data in their AEBAS system. Further, it also highlighted other issues such as insufficient cadaver data, discrepancies during examinations, and unfilled vacancies of senior residents in several departments.

NMC also mentioned in the notice about imposing "a monetary penalty not exceeding ₹1 crore per violation or for any act of omission by the medical institution". It also stressed that other stringent actions too will be stipulated.

In the show-cause notice, NMC also cited that there was insufficient data on cadavers, bed occupancy, cytopathology, and operation theatres. For many of these allegations, the hospital authorities cited technical issues.

Citing video evidence from August 1, 2024, NMC stated that a certain examination hall "looked too crowded and students were talking to each other while writing exam." Apart from this, it also underlined that according to data, bed occupancy at NRSMCH was only 73%. 

As per The Hindu report, responding to the notice, NRSMCH principal Dr Indira Dey issued clarifications in a letter to the Director of the Undergraduate Medical Education Board of the NMC and cited "technical glitches" for insufficient attendance data. In her letter dated May 10, Dr. Dey wrote, "It is to be noted that they gave manual attendance on registers regularly. We are trying to improve the same."

Regarding the bed occupancy, the principal countered the allegation by claiming that bed occupancy in the hospital was more than 80% in all month except for June 2024. She also blamed the cease-work protests by the junior doctors from August 2024, after the RG Kar incident, as the reason for a dip in the admission of patients.

The Telegraph India has reported that apart from NRS Medical College, NMC also found deficiencies in several other medical colleges. It found the hospitals lacking in parameters such as faculty strength.

Meanwhile, officials of medical colleges said that many faculty members had refused to adhere to the biometric attendance. Commenting on the matter, a city medical college official told the Daily, "Many faculty members refuse to go with biometric attendance. This is a ploy to go unaccounted."

Speaking to Telegraph, the official of a medical college in Calcutta added, "If someone does not adhere to biometric attendance, then there is no other way to verify their attendance. Some of them are adults and very senior people. It becomes difficult to scold them or haul them in by the administration. In many cases, administrators happen to be juniors in age as well as service."

Meanwhile, another official claimed that barring a few, all medical colleges in West Bengal have received show-cause notices. "Such show-cause notices are not new. NMC sometimes imposes a hefty penalty. The colleges are given a chance to pitch their version. In many instances, the NMC reduces the fine amount after hearing the colleges," the official of a medical college said.

Commenting on the issue, the vice-principal of a medical college pointed out that biometric attendance started in colleges nearly two years ago and while previously it was thumb-impression-based biometric attendance, NMC has now made face recognition mandatory for this purpose.

Referring to this, the vice-principal added, "There is a mobile application that the faculty members have to download on their phones. There are five-six biometric points in every college. A faculty member can mark attendance by opening the app within 100 metres of one of those points where the biometric is present."

A Health Department official, meanwhile, added, "The government has to recruit more faculty members. The recruitment has been stalled because of a pending court case on OBC reservations."

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that NMC recently issued show-cause notices to several medical colleges in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka as well.

Also Read: After TN, Karnataka faces NMC Heat over deficiencies- 22 GMCs slapped show-cause notices