A Madras High Court order delivered on Thursday asking the Tamil Nadu Government to shift 150 MBBS students from a private medical college in Kancheepuram to Government run medical colleges exposed the rot that has set in the medical education system, at least in the State.
Justice T Raja, while disposing a series of petitions filed by the students of Ponnaiyah Ramajayam Institute of Medical Sciences (PRIMS) complaining about the lack of infrastructure in the college asked the Tamil Nadu Government to shift the 150 students from the college to the 22 Government-run medical colleges in the State.
This is not the first time the Madras High Court is issuing an order like this. The year 2017 saw the court ordering the shifting of 144 students from Annai Medical College and Hospital to government-run medical colleges. Dr C V Krishnaswamy, highly respected medical doctor in Tamil Nadu told The Pioneer that the regulatory mechanism in the State need to be beefed up to save the students from fly-by-night operators. “Most of the private colleges have found to be wanting when it comes to infrastructure facilities and qualified teachers,” said Dr Krishnaswamy.
Though the PRIMS did not meet the mandatory requirements, the college authorities managed to get the essentiality certificate from the State government in August 2014 which authorised the institution to admit 150 students every year to the MBBS course. But the Medical Council of India opposed the move by the Tamil Nadu government to issue essentiality certificate and Letter of Permission pointing out that PRIMS had many short comings. This included shortage of outpatients, low bed occupancy and non-availability of blood bank.
But the College authorities managed to get the permission based on a Supreme Court verdict based on the report submitted by the Oversight Committee. The Central Government issued the Letter of Permission in August 2016 which allowed the intake of students from the academic year 2016-17. But the students faced number of problems in the college from day one onwards because of shortcomings in infrastructure.
Dr GR Raveendranath, general secretary, Doctors Association for Social Equality (DASE), said the court orders were reflective of the inefficiency and corruption prevailing in the sector. “It is all because of the essentiality certificate issued by the State Government that the PRIMS could commence MBBS course. The fact that an essentiality certificate was issued to an institution which does not meet the mandatory requirements itself has to be probed comprehensively,” said Dr Raveendranath.
He also pointed out that admitting students from private medical colleges to government run colleges was counter productive in all respects. “The government-run colleges have already filled the classes with students. There is a student-teacher ratio as well as other limitations in the government colleges. Admitting students midway in the course cause lot of hardship to other students and teachers,” said Raveendranath.
What is disturbing is that most of the students in these private colleges are from north India because the middlemen appointed by the college managements trap the gullible students and parents with their sweet talks. A teacher in one of the medical colleges in the State said there were many institutions which have mushroomed all over Tamil Nadu because of political patronage. Prospective students should double-check about the credibility of such colleges, he said.