New Delhi: The fate of 11 medical colleges is now hanging in the balance. On Saturday, the Medical Council of India issued show cause notices to the college authorities, threatening them with de-recognition for failing to adhere to MCI norms despite repeated warnings.

These 11 colleges, which have two months to rectify their shortcoming or else get de-recognised, have among them over 1,300 MBBS seats. MCI president Dr Ketan Desai said, "It is true that these colleges are facing de-recognition. When we carried out inspections, several deficiencies were noticed in these colleges in terms of teaching staff, number of resident doctors, patient load of the resident hospital and infrastructure."

Explaining the circumstances, Dr Desai said once medical colleges get recognition, they are reviewed by MCI every five years on whether the colleges are maintaining standards as stipulated by the MCI and upgrading their facilities.

If found lacking, the colleges are given a maximum of two years to rectify the shortcomings. A final show cause notice is issued when colleges don't adhere to the norms even at the end of the two years.

"In the next two months, if the 11 colleges don't put in place the required norms, we will recommend the withdrawal of recognition of the MBBS degree of these colleges to the Union health ministry," Dr Desai said.

The list of colleges under fire include

1. GSVM Medical College (Kanpur)

2. SN Medical College (Agra)

3. MLN Medical College (Allahabad)

4. Guru Gobind Singh Medical College (Faridkot)

5. LLRM Medical College (Meerut)

6. Maharashtra Institute of Medical Sciences (Latur)

7. J N Medical College (Aligarh)

8. BM Patil Medical College (Bijapur)

9. Vinayaka Missions Medical College Hospital (Pondicherry)

Meanwhile, MCI has also sent reminders to 30 other medical colleges across India for renewal of permission to run an MBBS course, failing which they will not be able to admit students in the 2010-2011 academic session. Under MCI norms, till a medical college gets recognised, it has to take permission every year for five years to admit MBBS students.

MCI, after inspection, recommends permission to the government of India to allow continuance of MBBS courses in such colleges.
"Around 30 medical colleges have been sent letters to apply for renewal of permission immediately or else the will not be able to admit students in the coming academic year," Dr Desai told TOI.

The maximum number of colleges in question in this category are from Kerala (7), followed by Uttar Pradesh (6) and Orissa (3). Dr Desai added, "We have also sent notices to seven medical colleges regarding increasing of seats. While some of them have increased seats from 50-100, others want to increase it to 100-150. Colleges for five years are required to take renewal permission from MCI over this increased intake of students."

source: TOI