KOTTAYAM: The Medical Council of India’s (MCI) recent decision to further relax the minimum standard requirements for medical colleges could adversely impact the quality of medical education. The move has also kicked up a fresh round of debate on the real objectives of this statutory body constituted with the purpose of establishing and maintaining high standards of medical education.
On July 3, 2015, MCI notified that it has relaxed norms for starting undergraduate courses with an intake range of 50 to 250 - by amending an earlier regulation issued in March 1999. So far, the MCI has made 10 amendments to its original order, thereby drastically relaxing the different parameters for courses including bed strength, number of faculties, resident doctors (junior and senior) and out-patient requirements.
As per the 1999 order, a minimum of 700 bed-strength was mandatory even for submitting application for starting a medical college with an intake of 150 students. However, over the years, this has been brought down to a meager 300 beds. The minimum number of associate professors, assistant professors and tutors/demonstrators required was also reduced in almost all departments. Medical professionals have warned that watering down of rules would be detrimental to the academic quality and patient care in government and private hospitals. “MCI’s primary responsibility is to ensure quality of medical education in the country. However, it seems the council has succumbed to market pressure from private medical education sector, which will certainly affect academic quality,” said Dr B Iqbal, former VC of Kerala University. The government medical colleges, most of them already under-staffed, will be in deep trouble if the government cuts down on existing staff. “The new scenario will give government an opportunity to go ahead with the redeployment of employees, ignoring the staff requirements on the basis of the increased inflow of patients. It will naturally double the workload of existing staff,” said Dr Jinesh P S, a senior resident at Govt MCH Kottayam. According to available statistics, there is an increase in the number of outpatients and inpatients -- an average of 8-11 pc and 4-7 pc respectively -- in government medical colleges every year. Meanwhile MCI member Dr Fazal Gafur, who is also the president of the MES defended the MCI decision.
MCI took the decision after scientifically evaluating the number of available staff in medical colleges and total number of students. “It is hard to get qualified teachers in private medical colleges, especially in non-clinical departments, he said adding that the country does not have adequate number of doctors. There is also a fear that relaxation in norms will lead to mushrooming of medical colleges.