Rectify Deficiencies, Improve Faculty Strength in GMCs: Doctors urge TN Govt
Chennai: Ahead of the medical admission for this academic year, the doctors in Tamil Nadu have urged the State Government to rectify the deficiencies in the government medical colleges and improve the faculty strength.
In this regard, the doctors have pointed out that since the medical education in the government medical colleges is highly subsidised, loss of seats might affect the students negatively.
Addressing the matter, Dr. Shanthi A R, Secretary of the Doctor’s Association for Social Equality (DASE) told Medical Dialogues, "There are around 550 posts of Assistant Professors and 450 posts of Professors lying vacant. There is a sufficient number of doctors available in the State but the Government has not made efforts to conduct counselling and promote doctors at the appropriate time."
"When it is being speculated that a lot of medical colleges in the State may lose recognition by the National Medical Commission (NMC) the State Government has to take this seriously by utilising all the possible measures," she added.
Also Read: No NMC Recognition for 3 Medical Colleges, Tamil Nadu to lose 500 MBBS Seats
Issuing a Statement in this regard, the association mentioned, "Government medical colleges have adequate number of doctors as per NMC norms. However, 450 professor and 550 associate professor posts are lying vacant due to non-conduct of promotion consultations on time. Promotion of doctors is directly related to medical education. If the Tamil Nadu government is lax, there will be huge consequences. The Tamil Nadu government should not suffer such infamy. Therefore, the problem of promotion of doctors should be solved on a war-time basis."
"Govt should immediately resolve salary hike demands of government doctors," it added.
The association has also condemned the derecognition of around 500 MBBS seats in the State. Referring to the matter, Dr. Shanthi A.R. mentioned it to be an "overreaction" on the part of NMC and pointed out that the regulations of AEBAS were not strongly implemented previously. "There are other ways and mechanisms as well to ensure the attendance of doctors. However, these norms are suddenly being implemented in a strict manner. So, the medical colleges should be given time to deal with the issue."
Referring to the issue, DASE mentioned in a release, "The fee for MBBS course in Tamil Nadu Government Medical Colleges is just Rs 13,610 only. If 500 seats are lost, 500 people will lose the chance to study at this low fee. The authorization was canceled on the grounds that the biometric attendance record linked to Aadhaar was not correct and the CCTV camera records were also incorrect. These are minor flaws. Time should have been given to correct these defects and the approval should have been continued. Besides, cancellation of recognition is not the right decision."
In the press meeting of DASE that was held on Monday, the representatives of the Tamil Nadu Medical Students Association and Tamil Nadu Dental Students Associations were also present.
Meanwhile, the Service Doctors and Postgraduates’ Association (SDPGA) also held an emergency meeting and protested against the NMC notification regarding cancellation of MBBS seats in three medical colleges across the State.
The doctors under the association have opined that the NMC should take necessary steps to give recognition to medical colleges before conducting the medical entrance examination NEET. Further, the association also ppined that NMC, which is working to provide uniform medical education across the country, "should force the state governments to provide uniform pay, steps, higher positions, working environment and necessary facilities to the teachers working in all the medical colleges."
This reaction has come from the doctors across the State after NMC decided to withdraw recognition to three medical colleges in Tamil Nadu for deficiencies in Aadhaar-based biometric attendance and footage of cameras installed in these colleges.
These three medical colleges include Government Stanley Medical College Hospital in Chennai, K A P Viswanathan Government Medical College in Trichy and Government Dharmapuri Medical College and Hospital. The intake capacity in these three medical colleges is for 500 MBBS seats.
Apart from this, Medical Dialogues had recently reported that that in a major crackdown over non-compliance to its mandated standards for imparting medical courses, the apex medical regulatory body, NMC has so far de-recognised around 40 medical colleges in the last two months.
Speaking to the ANI, the official sources informed, “The action was taken on account of these institutions not complying with norms as well as lapses pertaining to faculty and security (CCTV) cameras.”
“About 40 medical colleges have lost recognition over the last one to two months period for not meeting the standards set by the NMC… A further 100 medical colleges in Puducherry, Gujarat, Assam, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are also likely to lose recognition for not complying with the NMC's standards,” they stated.
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