Odisha Hospital's PG plans on halt due to delay in NMC inspection
Bhubaneswar: The plan to start post-graduate courses at Capital Hospital is getting postponed due to a delay in the inspection of the National Medical Commission (NMC) as the apex regulator is yet to visit the facility to conduct an inspection before giving a nod for starting PG medical courses there.
The state health officials wrote to the NMC on Thursday, requesting it to pay a visit as quickly as possible. R K Sharma, the health secretary, wrote to NMC secretary Sandhya Bhullar, demanding a physical inspection and consequently permission to enrol in PG programs from the academic year 2022-23.
" Capital Hospital is one of the oldest hospitals. It has some super specialty disciplines also. The NMC received an application from the Director of Medical Education and Training (DMET) for opening PG classes in November 2021. Six months have passed but the NMC hasn't paid a visit to the hospital," Sharma said in his letter.
The DMET has approached the authorities to open six PG departments — general medicine, respiratory medicine, general surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, orthopaedics and paediatrics.
To address the scarcity of staff, the state is eager to launch more PG courses at medical colleges and hospitals. The administration stated last year that PG admissions to Capital Hospital would begin in 2022-23. Capital Hospital is free from the Centre's requirement that directs UG courses to be completed before opening PG departments. The government said on Wednesday that Capital Hospital, Bhubaneswar, has been made a designated associated teaching hospital for the institute's Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER).
Laxmidhar Sahu, Director, Capital Hospital told Times of India, " Notification has been issued by the government. The NMC has also been reminded about the physical inspection that will include medical and teaching infrastructure. We hope the NMC visits the hospital soon."
Considering that starting PG courses would require a sufficient number of teaching faculty members and the institute doesn't have the required number of teachers, the government has already signed an MoU with SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack, to deploy teachers for teaching PGIMER students till fresh recruitment of faculty members are made.
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