NMC denies permission to 3 Medical Colleges, 550 MBBS seats lost

New Delhi: Finding major deficiencies in three major medical institutes in Rajasthan, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has declined its permission for admitting students in the MBBS and PG medical courses offered in those colleges for the academic year 2021-2022.

This has resulted in loss of around 550 MBBS seats as the Apex medical regulator has withdrawn permission for 250 MBBS seats of Geetanjali Medical College and Hospital,150 MBBS seats of Pacific Institute of Medical Sciences, and 150 MBBS seats of American International Institute of Medical Sciences.

Apart from the MBBS seats, Geetanjali Medical College has also lost its recognition for PG Broad and Super-Specialty courses, Pacific Institute has lost recognition for 6 seats in MS (OBG) and American Institute has lost its PG medical seats in Pathology, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Radio-Diagnosis, General Medicine, Opthalmology, Bio-Chemistry, Community Medicine, Otorhinolaryngology, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, General Surgery, Anesthesiology, Forensic Medicine and Orthopedics.

Reasons for withdrawing permission:

Such a step of cancelling recognition came from the Apex Medical Regulator as it took note of several major deficiencies in those three medical colleges. The list of deficiencies includes- inadequate faculty members and clinical workload, deficiency in the process of record keeping, inadequate in-patient numbers, absence of consultants in out-patient departments, lack of proper infrastructure among others.

Geetanjali Medical College and Hospital:

Rajasthan based Geetanjali Medical College and Hospital was granted permission to initiate MBBS admission back in the year 2008. Following this, the college got the nod from the authorities to increase the seats from 150 to 250 in 2019.

However, even though the college claimed having adequate infrastructure and facilities in an affidavit, the Medical Assessment and Rating Board allegedly received several complaints over the years regarding fake faculty and inadequate patients in the institute. In order to verify, NMC conducted a surprise inspection on February 24, 2022 and found major deficiencies, contrary to the information provided in the affidavit.

The college was found to have a deficiency of faculty by 38%. In fact in several department including Physiology, Pharmacology, Pathology, Forensic Medicine, Community Medicine, General Medicine, Orthopedics and Emergency Medicine, the deficiency was 50% or more than that.

Apart from this, it was also found during the inspection that the authorization for handling Bio-Medical Waste certificate was found to be expired on 31st Jan 2019the clinical workload was also not as per the NMC requirements, there was lack in the number of combined surgical procedures and in the number of OPD registrations as well. 

Although the college had submitted its explanation addressing these issues, MARB mentioned in its letter directed to the college, "The explanation is not satisfactory and rejected. After due deliberations, the MARB of NMC has decided to cancel the Letter of renewal of permission granted for 250 MBBS seats, post graduate seats in both Broad Specialties and super specialty courses for the academic year 2021-22, with immediate effect from 18-04-2022. Also recommended to the National Medical Commission to cancel the recognition for the college including Under-graduate, Postgraduate- Broad and Super-Specialty courses."

Pacific Institute of Medical Sciences:

NMC arranged for a Surprise Inspection at the college, which was granted the Letter of Permission in the year 2015-2016. However, on the Surprise Inspection conducted on February 24, the NMC team found that out of the required 150 faculties, only 70 faculty members were present and therefore there was a deficiency of 54.88%. 

Apart from the inadequate number of faculties, there was not the required clinical workload, the record keeping in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology was not satisfactory and the departmental library was also not up to the mark, minimal number of bed occupancy in the wards, there was deficiency in the number of In-patients in the Department of General Surgery, unavailability of consultants or senior residents in the Out-patient departments, and there was inadequacy in the number of surgeries as well. 

Therefore, taking note of the fact that all the deficiencies were major and more than 50%, MARB mentioned in its letter, "The explanation is not satisfactory and rejected. After due deliberations, the MARB of NMC has decided to cancel the Letter of renewal of permission granted for the academic year 2021-2022 for the undergraduate 150 MBBS and postgraduate in MS (OBG) 06 seats with immediate effect from 14-04-2022. Also reported to the National Medical Commission to cancel the recognition for the college."

American International Institute of Medical Sciences:

Based in Rajasthan, American International Institute of Medical Sciences under the Rajasthan University of Health Sciences was issued the Letter of Permission in the academic year 2016-2017 for 150 MBBS seats. Later it also got permission for PG medical courses in Pathology, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Radio-Diagnosis, General Medicine, Opthalmology, Bio-Chemistry, Community Medicine, Otorhinolaryngology, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, General Surgery, Anesthesiology, Forensic Medicine and Orthopedics..

However, after receiving several complaints regarding the institute, NMC arranged for a surprise inspection at the institute on February 24, 2022 and found major deficiencies. The deficiencies included inadequate number of faculty and senior residents, lesser number of bed occupancy, gross inadequacy of clinical material in some of the departments, among others.

It was noted that all the deficiencies were major and more than 50% and therefore, MARB mentioned in its letter directed to the college, "After due deliberations, the explanation is not satisfactory and rejected. The MARB of NMC has decided to withdrawal of letter of permission, Cancellation of admissions into undergraduate 150 MBBS seats and postgraduate courses for the academic year 2021-22 with effect from 18-04-22."

To view the MARB letter, click on the following links-

https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/geetanjali-mch-175139.pdf

https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/pacific-instt-of-medical-sciences-175140.pdf

https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/american-instt-175141.pdf

Also Read: NMC nod to Chintpurni Medical College, BFUHS to hold Special State Counselling for 150 MBBS seats