Non-adherence to Guidelines: NMC imposes Rs 12 lakh fine on GMC Udhampur, conditional renewal for MBBS seats
Jammu: The National Medical Commission (NMC) has imposed a fine of Rs 12 lakh on the Government Medical College (GMC) Udhampur for persistent deficiencies and non-adherence to NMC guidelines and regulations.
NMC imposed the fine while evaluating the annual declaration form submitted by the institute while applying for renewal of their 100 MBBS seats. Even though the Commission imposed a fine on the institute, it has granted a conditional renewal for the academic year 2024-2025.
The Apex Medical Commission, NMC, grants renewal of MBBS seats to the Medical Colleges with valid Letters of Permission (LoP) for MBBS admission after assessing the Annual Declaration Form, which the medical colleges need to upload on the NMC portal.
As per the latest media report by Daily Excelsior, GMC Udhampur, which has a valid LoP for MBBS admission, had applied this year for renewal of their 100 MBBS seats. For this, the college uploaded the requisite details/data on the NMC portal.
However, while evaluating the annual declaration form, video of examination and SAF-C provided by the College with AEBAS (Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System) report, the Commission found several deficiencies.
Taking note of the deficiencies, the Commission issued a show-cause notice to the medical college and directed the management of the institution to furnish a point-wise reply within 3 days, explaining as to why the seats allocated to the institute should not be reduced in the Academic Year 2024-2025 or why a monetary penalty should not be imposed.
Apart from this, the College was also given an additional opportunity to submit an explanation on the NMC observation through a virtual meeting before the Undergraduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB) on 23.05.2024.
During the virtual hearing, the Principal of the college represented the institute but the authorities while reviewing the observations found breaches to be substantial and opined that the clarification given by the college was unsatisfactory.
Even though the Commission imposed a fine of Rs 12 lakh, it granted the renewal of 100 MBBS seats for the academic year 2024-2025 to GMC Udhampur. However, the NMC permission has been granted subject to the deposit of a fine of Rs 12 lakh.
The Commission has also decided to do a reassessment after 2 months with a warning of initiating stringent action if deficiencies pointed by it exist.
Issuing a Communication to the medical college, the Director of UGMEB, informed, "The competent authority is of the view that in all respects, your college becomes the fit case for reduction of seats due to non-adherence guidelines, regulations notified and issued by NMC from time to time. Since the portal for submission of the Annual Declaration Form has been introduced for first time, taking a lenient view, the Board decided to grant renewal of 100 MBBS seats for the year 2024-25, subject to the deposit of a fine of Rs 12lakh as a first measure. However, a reassessment will be done after 2 months. If deficiencies exist with your college, this organization will initiate the stringent action as mandated under MSMER-2023 Chapter-III clause-8 and any other relevant act and rules."
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the NMC had been in talks with the medical colleges across the country on a daily basis to ensure that the medical colleges have been complying with the requirements regarding faculty numbers, biometric attendance, clinical materials and other rules. The process is ongoing and NMC has already reached out to the administrators of around half of the medical colleges.
Earlier, medical colleges were facing physical inspections, where a team of assessors would go and visit medical colleges and assess those facilities. This process was widely criticized and accused of being full of bribery and corruption. It was alleged that the assessor would take bribes and approve medical colleges. However, under the new system, the Apex Medical Regulator is slowly moving online in terms of inspection of medical colleges as well as overseeing the fulfilment of requirements. Although online, with features, like AEBAS and biometric attendance system, it is being difficult for medical colleges to engage ghost faculties.
Also Read: Medical Colleges Under Tight Scrutiny of National Medical Commission
NMC introduced the provisions of monetary penalty in the Maintenance of Standards of Medical Education Regulations, 2023 or MSMER 2023. The Commission had mentioned that it may impose several forms of penalty such as issue warning to the medical college to rectify or comply, impose monetary penalty up to Rs 1 crore, impose penalty up to Rs 5 lakhs to the faculties of the medical college for misconduct. It may also withhold the accreditation process, recommend to the Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) of NMC to withhold the application process for any new course including increase of seats in the existing course, reduce the number of students in the next or subsequent academic years, stop admission to one or more courses, recommend for withdrawal of permission, withhold or withdraw accreditation for up to five academic years.
Recently, for the first time, taking note of deficiencies in faculty and clinical material, NMC imposed fines on medical colleges for violating the Maintenance of Standards of Medical Education Regulations, 2023 (MSMER) rules. The Commission slapped a fine of up to Rs 3 lakh on government medical colleges in Tamil Nadu, including the colleges in Dharmapuri, Ramanathapuram, and Nagapattinam. Apart from these colleges, the Commission also issued show-cause notices to many other colleges for deficiencies in Aadhaar-based biometric attendance.
Later, noticing a critical faculty shortage and lack of essential resources, the Commission took strict action against the government medical colleges in Chhattiagarh. NMC slapped a penalty of Rs 1 crore on Kanker Medical College, Rs 4 lakh fine on Durg Medical College, and Rs 3 lakh fine each in the medical colleges located at Bilaspur, Ambikapur, Mahasamund, and Jagdalpur. Along with this, Mahasamund, Kanker, and Raigarh medical colleges have also been served with show-cause notices over the shortage of faculty.
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