High Court directs State to close 70 Bogus Nursing Colleges

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that following the PIL filed by advocate Umesh Bohre, the HC bench had formed a Physical Verification Committee to inspect the nursing colleges of which the petitioner, Bohre was also a member. However, this decision of constituting a high-level commission comprising Lawyers, District Judge and Collector of District had been stayed by the Supreme Court.

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As per the latest media report by The Print, earlier in 2022, an inquiry committee had been constituted under the Madhya Pradesh Nursing Council in compliance with the HC order. The court had directed this committee for probing 270 recognised nursing colleges in the Gwalior-Chambal region.

Following this, the committee submitted its report in a sealed cover and the report showed that 70 medical colleges lacked proper infrastructure as per the standard norms. On the basis of the report, the court has now ordered the authorities to shut down these colleges.

While commenting on the matter, petitioner Bohra told The Print, "This order sends a big message for the people of Gwalior-Chambal region. The students who would have graduated from these colleges would have entered the healthcare workforce without proper training, which can be dangerous for the system."

Further mentioning that he would approach the court seeking cancellation of degrees awarded to students from these bogus colleges, Bohra added, "The students paid money and got degrees from these colleges. They have not received any classroom or hospital training and they have degrees to attend to patients in hospitals."

Meanwhile, the Chief Medical Health Officer (CMHO) of Gwalior, Manish Sharma has welcomed the order as he opined that this would help clean up the bogus colleges that were operating in illegal manner. Following the court's order, the CMHO office might also face an inquiry to find out how these colleges had received approval despite not having any hospitals attached to them.

Referring to this, Sharma said, "We are aware that our office is also involved in the inspections. The court order will help us identify people who have given approvals without the required set-up. We want the inquiry to happen. This will clean the system."

The court's order has been welcomes by Private Nursing Institute Association All India, which had earlier approached the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the HC order for inspecting the nursing colleges by a team of lawyers.

They argued that only a few nursing colleges were in such a poor state. Confirming that the association is not planning to challenge the court order, the president of the association, R.M.Singh told the daily, "Our association will not support the colleges that were not operating according to the rules. We respect the court order and the government inquiry."

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