With SC notice over restoration of recognition, MNR Medical College Students demand Speedy Decision from NMC

Hyderabad: The postgraduate medical students of MNR Medical College, who are facing uncertainty regarding the future in the absence of NMC recognition for the medical seats, are hopeful that their lost time will be limited to only one academic year instead of two.

Students are expecting a speedy solution especially after recently the Supreme Court issued notice to the Central Government and the National Medical Commission (NMC) over the restoration or reallocation of seats of students belonging to the medical college.

Since the National Medical Commission (NMC) cancelled the recognition of the medical seats at MNR Medical college last year, even in the case of restoration of seats the students will have to face an extension as they are already behind the schedule by a year.

Explaining their situation and the demands for a speedy solution, one of the PG students from the college told TOI, “We have been requesting the NMC for a solution but it has turned a deaf ear to our requests. All we ask for is a valid seat. A verbal assurance is not enough, as in a previous case in Tamil Nadu, the students found themselves in the soup after completing their MBBS. We do not want to land in a similar situation after investing in money and time. We have already lost an academic year.”

The crisis concerning the medical seats in Telangana began after the National Medical Commission (NMC) cancelled MBBS and PG medical admission in three private medical colleges in Telangana following a surprise inspection. It resulted in a huge decrease in the total number of seats. In the case of MNR Medical College and Hospital, both MBBS and PG admissions had been cancelled. NMC had also cancelled PG medical seats in Mahavir Institute of Medical Sciences.

Besides the recognition for MBBS admissions, MNR Medical College lost PG seats in specialist courses like pathology, anatomy, ophthalmology and biochemistry.

Also Read: Restoration of MNR Medical College recognition: Supreme Court issues notice Centre, NMC

This came after the Union Health Ministry carried out a surprise inspection on 12 medical colleges in 5 different cities and shut them down after reportedly finding that they were allegedly not conforming to the prescribed minimum standard requirement. Hence, the medicos had to be relocated to other medical institutes.

When the medicos had approached the High Court bench, the Court had directed the authorities of Kaloji Narayan Rao University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS) and private medical colleges not to insist on payment of fees from those students who have been accommodated in new collages as a part of relocation until the central government takes its final decision.

However, last year MNR medical college finally secured permission from the concerned authorities to run the college and the transferred students had been ordered to join back their respective colleges. Meanwhile, pointing out the inadequacies of the infrastructure of MNR medical college, the medicos approached the High Court and prayed to be allowed to relocate, but the HC bench rejected the plea.

Even though the court had asked the students to start attending classes, their problems did not end. Therefore, around 20 PG medicos camped outside the NMC’s office in March demanding the validity of medical seats.

Recently, the aggrieved petitioner medicos approached the Supreme Court seeking a direction to NMC to pass a specific order restoring the recognition as per the NMC Act, 2019 in favour of MNR for the PG course for the academic year 2021-2022 with a specified time period not exceeding one week. 

The plea, alternatively, seeks a direction to the NMC to reallocate the PG students of MNR college of 2021-22 academic session to some other medical college.

While commenting on the matter, an affected student told the Times of India, “We have been suffering since May 19, 2022, without a valid seat. NMC has been very irresponsible and negligent with regard to the students’ future by not giving a specific order of recognition despite the Telangana high court order in November."

"In view of the same and to protect our future as well as academic career, we moved the top court requesting for a specific order of recognition to MNR College for the PG course for the academic year 2021-2022 as per the NMC Act, 2019,” the student further added.

The daily adds that as an alternative, the students have been demanding from the Apex medical commission to relocate the students as per the previous orders of the High Court.

Also Read: MNR Medical College Students worried over validity of PG degrees, protest outside NMC seeking recognition