High drama prevailed in the auditorium of Government Medical College and Hospital Sector 32 here on Monday where students assembled for their MBBS counselling. The bone of contention was that the premier institution announced 100 vacancies, but at the eleventh hour vacancies was reduced to 50 seats by the Medical Council of India (MCI).
Sonali Agarwal, an aggrieved student said, “The institute reduced the number of seats at the eleventh hour without prior notification. If there were 50 seats, then what was the point of calling 100 students for counsellingIJ Even in the prospectus it was mentioned that there are likely to be 100 seats.”
Sonali was not the lone contender, her opinion was being voiced by many parents who were present there with their wards and were left disappointed. Many parents were even shouting slogans against the medical college administration for the current fiasco.
However, Dr Atul Sachdev, Director Principal of the GMCH-32 said, “It is not the fault of the medical college. We have clearly mentioned in the prospectus that 100 is the tentative number of seats. It was up to MCI and Government of India to decide the exact number of seats, but unfortunately we received the MCI directives on Monday and acted accordingly.”
According to the prospectus of the college; as per notification of MCI vide letter no MCI-37(1) (Onetime Permission),2013- Med/25060 dated July 31, 2013 number of MBBS seats at Government Medical College, Sector 32, Chandigarh were increased to 100 for the year 2013. Tentative number of MBBS seats for the admission year 2014 is likely to remain 100, subject to any further direction or order from the MCI or Government of India.
In this bickering between the medical college authorities and the MCI, it was the students who were at the receiving end. Sonali secured rank 54 in MBBS merit list for GMCH-32 and was quite confident that she will get through and hence she left the counselling of Christian Medical College, Vellore which was scheduled for Monday.
Simran Kapoor, who secured rank 62, said, “We were called for counselling which was to commence from 10 am, but we were kept waiting at the premises of the medical college till 11:10 am, when the officials arrived and to our disappointment announced that there are only 50 seats. There are also many dropout students who were hopeful for bagging a MMBS seat this year as the number of seats were 100, but after this
announcement they are left with no options.”
The Director Principal said that the MCI reduced the number of seats citing issues of cramped up space in the lecture theatre, low space in the anatomy lab, common demonstration halls, lack of lockers and other such petty issues.
However, a parent party alleged that the MCI has no morals and it has been bought by the authorities of the private medical colleges. The person alleged that earlier the donation quota of the private medical college sold for Rs 80 lakhs but now it has gone up to the tune of Rs 1 crore. There are many private colleges in the region which runs from a single building but have 200 to 300 seats.
Meanwhile, when this reporter tried to contact the MCI officials the phone calls were answered by their office staffs and no one came forward to take up the questions. Recently the newly appointed Health Minister, Harsh Vardhan also slammed the MCI for reducing the number of seats when the country is in a dire need of doctors and termed it as the seat of corruption.
Mother of Japleen Bhatia, a student who secured rank 67 said, “The parents of the students who have suffered the brunt of the decision made by the MCI are planning to move the Punjab and Haryana High court. The matter has reached New Delhi and ex finance minister P Chidambaram has extended his support to the aggrieved parents.”
She further added, “It was highhandedness of the MCI for which many students have suffered and the authorities are answerable for this chaos. If the MCI had issues with the infrastructure of the medical college, why didn’t they issue a notice earlier, rather cut the number of seats at the last moment.”
On the other hand, Dr Atul Sachdev said that he will pursue the matter with competent authorities and will try to take step which will be beneficial for the future of the MBBS students who have suffered.