NEW DELHI: The National Medical Commission (NMC) derecognised Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Medical College in Jammu on multiple complaints, including poor infrastructure, inadequate faculty strength and insufficient clinical material.
The NMC's decision to withdraw its Letter of Permission (LoP) for the Institute to run an MBBS course for 2025-26 came late Tuesday night.
However, NMC said none of the students will suffer and that they will continue their MBBS degrees at other institutions in the region.
The derecognition came amid a row over the admission of Muslim students. The NMC had earlier allowed the college to conduct the MBBS course. Following this, the college admitted 50 students, of whom 42 were Muslims, in September last year. The institute said the admission was made on merit.
According to NMC Chairperson, Dr Abhijat Chandrakant Sheth, the initial LoP was given on a virtual hearing at that time.
“In recent times, we received credible complaints about the learning resources, faculty issues, training material, and infrastructure issues. Hence, we have to conduct a surprise inspection, which is under the Act and under the norms of the National Medical Commission.”
He said that based on the report, the NMC decided to withdraw the LOP.
“We have also cancelled the LOPs in the past... NMC is also concerned about these students, but there is a mechanism to relocate the students across the other institutions in the region.”
He said none of the students will suffer. “It will not compromise their rights and their stand to continue their study as a medical undergraduate," he added.
The Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) of NMC had issued public notices dated December 5, 2024 and December 19, 2024, inviting applications to establish a new Medical College for the Academic Year 2025-26.
“Pursuant to the said notice, NMC had received an application for the establishment of New Medical College by the name Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence, Kakryal, Jammu and Kashmir, with an intake of 50 MBBS Seats for the academic year 2025-26, along with many other applications,” the withdrawal of the letter of permission said.
“After following due procedures like physical inspection and scrutiny by the experts, the said college was granted Letter of Permission for 50 MBBS Seats by Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) of NMC,” it added.
Accordingly, admissions were carried out by the College.
“Since the past two weeks, the NMC has been receiving several complaints, including serious allegations that the college has inadequate infrastructure, inadequate clinical material, and insufficient qualified full-time teaching faculty and resident doctors. Hence, the MARB decided to conduct a surprise physical inspection to verify the veracity of the complaints against the college,” the letter said.
The assessment report submitted by the team of assessors clearly proved that the complaints made against the college were true, it added.
“The deficiencies were so gross that if the college had been allowed to continue, it would have jeopardised the education of the innocent students. Hence, the MARB decided to invoke the provisions of the NMC Act to withdraw the permission given to the college,” the letter added.
The letter further stated that the interests of the admitted students for the academic year 2025-26 have been protected by authorising the state authorities to accommodate them in other medical institutions within the UT as supernumerary seats.