NMC declares MBBS admissions of 150 Mangaluru Medical College students as illegal

Bengaluru: After the National Medical Commission (NMC) declared the admission of altogether 150 MBBS students of GR Medical College, Mangaluru as "illegal and arbitrary", these students of the 2022-2023 batch are facing complete uncertainty regarding their future.

Writing to the Health and Family Welfare Department, the Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) of NMC informed that the college was granted permission for the establishment in 2021-2022 with an annual intake of 150 MBBS seats. However, the Commission reportedly disapproved the proposal seeking permission for a second batch during the academic year 2022-2023.

As per the communication from NMC, the disapproval was issued on the basis of the assessment of the college by MARB on September 5 and September 6, 2022. However, despite the NMC disapproval, the college allegedly admitted students.

Referring to this, NMC mentioned in the letter, "However, the college illegally and arbitrarily admitted 150 MBBS students for 2022-23 without valid permission."

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The latest media report by the Times of India adds that NMC in the letter also pointed out that even though the Director of Medical Education (DME) was directed to inquire about the matter, there has been no response in this regard yet. Now, it has asked the Government for examining the matter and furnish a detailed report to NMC. Meanwhile, the college has not been granted permission for any MBBS admission for this academic year i.e. 2023-2024 as well.

The matter has now reached the Court, informed a spokesperson of the college. Claiming that the admissions were made through the Karnataka Examinations Authority, the spokesperson of the college told TOI, “The admissions were made through the Karnataka Examinations Authority. We’ve requested NMC to reconsider it and are expecting a favourable reply in a day or two. We have also gone to court regarding this.”

Meanwhile, Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) clarified that its job is to allot seats on the basis of the seat matrix received from the Government. Commenting on the issue, the executive director of KEA, Ramya S said, “We do not verify whether each college has the required permission. Our duty is to allot seats as per the matrix.”

Referring to the matter, the Director of Medical Education Sujatha Rathod informed that the DME was not informed that NMC had cancelled the permission for the medical college. In this regard, Rathod said, “We were unable to conduct the physical inquiry as we were busy preparing the seat matrix and did not have the time. The NMC had not communicated with the government or DME’s office after the cancellation last year. During preparation of the seat matrix last year, neither the college nor RGUHS/NMC had put up anything up about cancellation on their websites. Our officials checked personally even the day before the matrix was submitted.”

The DME further clarified that it is NMC that will take the call regarding the 150 MBBS students who were admitted to the college last year. Meanwhile, the Vice-Chancellor of RGUHS, MK Ramesh informed that the University has not yet got any notice in this regard.

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