MADURAI: More than a year after Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare told the Parliament that the number of MBBS seats in Madurai Medical College would be increased to 250 from August 2018, the college is yet to get the approval from Medical Council of India (MCI).
In February last, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Chaubey, in a written reply, told the Parliament that in Tamil Nadu, the number of MBBS seats in government medical colleges in Madurai, Tirunelveli, Kanniyakumari and Coimbatore would be increased by 345.
According to the announcement, the number of MBBS seats in Madurai Medical College will be increased from 155 to 250. However, the announcement by the Centre was not effected as approval from Medical Council of India (MCI) was pending until the time of admissions in August last year.
Speaking to Express in June last, Director of Medical Education Dr A Edwin Joe had said that of the four medical colleges, the proposals for Tirunelveli and Madurai medical colleges were being given priority. In the later months, MCI teams conducted a series of inspections.
Sources in Madurai Medical College said replies to the questions pertaining to infrastructural deficiencies raised by the MCI team in January were sent to the council on March 23. The construction of hostel for postgraduate students and the seven-storey academic block and the proposal to build a new library with the mandated space of 40,000 square feet were mentioned in the reply. The letter also sought MCI’s approval to effect the increase of seats starting this academic year. “Based on the reply, MCI may give its approval or conduct inspection again,” they added.
The academic block which is under construction since December 2018 will house faculty rooms, examination halls and demonstration rooms of six departments (pathology, forensic medicine, physiology, bio-chemistry, pharmacology, community medicine), a multi-purpose hall and canteen, all of which are to be built at a cost of `37.25 crore.
With the NEET examination set to be held on May 5 and the medical counselling to begin after the publication of results in June, uncertainity over the increased intake still prevails. However, the college officials expressed their optimism over effecting the increased student intake this year itself. They cited instances of medical colleges in the State getting MCI approval even while medical counselling is underway.