The Government might be promising to ensure quality medical education, but its action speaks otherwise, at least in the case of six prominent medical colleges in the NCR region in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
Though the Medical Council of India (MCI) recommended withdrawal of recognition/ letter of permission of these medical colleges in view of their poor educational infrastructure, the Union Health Ministry has asked it to reconsider its decision. The recommendation of the MCI (to derecognise the colleges) was received in the month of May 2013. However, the matter was referred back to the Board of Governors for re-examination in June, said Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad in a reply to a Rajya Sabha query on Tuesday.
The six colleges are Santosh Medical College, Ghaziabad, Subharati Medical College, Meerut, School of Medical Sciences & Research, Greater Noida, Saraswathi Institute of Medical Sciences, Hapur, Shree Guru Gobind Singh Tricentenary Medical College, Gurgaon and Rama Medical College, Hapur, said Azad.
This is not the first time that the Ministry has tried to overrule the power of the MCI. According to a CAG report submitted to Parliament in April 2011, the Health Ministry “did not take any action” for derecognising nine medical colleges whose withdrawal of recognition was recommended by the MCI due to “persistent irregularities” noticed by it in its inspections.Similarly, out of 71 cases approved by the Ministry, in four cases of Government colleges, the MCI had objected to permission but the Ministry went ahead to award it, the CAG report had pointed out.