MCI troubles continue for SMIMS

Now, the Medical Council has problems with the PG courses

VISHNU NEOPANEY

The fate of post-graduate courses at Sikkim Manipal Institute of Medical Sciences hang on a balance with the Medical Council of India having refused to extend the provisional recognition offered to the seven PG courses at SMIMS. The MCI refusal reportedly comes from its stand that the institute and the hospital continue to have several deficiencies which make it ill-equipped to train students at the post-graduate level. The SMIMS authorities meanwhile have accused the MCI of delaying appraisals and questioned why, after a delay of four years, was the recognition denial sprung just as a new batch of post-graduate students was being taken in.
The MCI, it is informed, has threatened to stop admissions for 2015-16 for post graduate courses even as SMIMS has already completed two rounds of counseling for admission of students. The MCI had given clearance and provisional recognition in 2011 and SMIMS had started Postgraduate courses in all seven courses from academic the academic session 2011-12.
In accordance with the MCI recognition, SMIMS had taken two students each in all the seven Masters Degree courses in Pediatrics, General Medicine, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Otolaryngology [ENT], Pharmacology, Community Medicine and Biochemistry.
Now, in a letter addressed to the Dean at SMIMS dated 31 March 2015, BD Jain, Administrative Officer, MCI, referring to the decision of the Postgraduate Medical Education Committee of MCI taken on 19 March, informs that “the Postgraduate Medical Education Committee considered the Council Assessor’s Report of April 2014, and Compliance report of September 2014 of the College Authorities and not to recognized MD of [all seven courses] qualification granted by Sikkim Manipal University of Health, Medical & Technical Sciences in respect to the students trained at SMIMS Gangtok because the Assessors have pointed out different deficiencies in their report”.
When contacted, Dr. GS Joneja, Dean-SMIMS, said that the University has made good on all the compliances and deficiencies pointed out by the MCI Assessors and that it has no pending compliances in terms of faculty, facilities or management of hospital. Given this status, he has questioned why MCI was denying renewal of recognition in the last minute.
The initial recognition was granted in 2011, and after a gap of four years and several requests, the MCI deputed its assessors who pointed out several deficiencies, which, the SMIMS Dean insists are unfounded. “The Hospital and teaching section are better equipped as compared to other medical colleges,” he said.
In the meantime, SMIMS has also approached the High Court of Sikkim challenging the decision taken by the Postgraduate Medical Education Committee of the MCI and seeking the court’s intervention to restrain MCI from stopping SMIMS from taking in PG students for 2015-16.