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.

SMIMS stumbles on MCI hiccup again

MCI DENIES PERMISSION TO CONTINUE INTAKE OF 100 STUDENTS
RANJIT SINGH
GANGTOK, 20 Aug: In what has become a routine at the start of every academic session, the Medical Council of India has once again denied permission to the Sikkim Manipal Institute of Medical Sciences to take in the desired 100 students for the MBBS batch which begins this year. With only around 10 more days to go for the new MBBS session at SMIMS to commence, it seems that there could be confusion once more for the institution, its students as well as for the state government arising out of the denial by the MCI to allow Sikkim Manipal University to continue with its intake of 100 students per batch.
SMIMS had taken 100 students in its MBBS course the previous year.
The Ministry of Health, Government of India, had, in a letter dated 15 July, 2014, intimated the decision of the MCI to the Sikkim Manipal and further conveyed that on the basis of the report of the Medical Council of India, the Ministry was disapproving the “increase” of seats from 50 to 100 at Sikkim Manipal Institute of Medical Sciences for its fifth batch of MBBS students for the year 2014-15.
The tersely worded letter does not divulge the details of the report of the MCI; it only conveys the Ministry's inability to allow the institute to increase its MBBS seats from 50 to 100 on the basis of the report of the MCI.
It is to be noted that admission process at the SMIMS commences several weeks before the actual MBBS classes begin; so the process would have begun sometime in June-July. Just before the admission process began this year, a three-member team of the Medical Council of India had also visited the SMIMS campus at Tadong and the Central Referral Hospital in order to assess the available infrastructure, the facilities for students and the capacity of the institute to take in 100 MBBS students in one batch.  It was on the basis of this inspection that the MCI prepared its current report whereby, apparently, it has disapproved the increase of MBBS seats at SMIMS from 50 to 100.
Following the report of the MCI and particularly the letter of the Ministry of Health denying SMIMS from continuing with its 100 MBBS seats for the new session the SMU has approached the Sikkim High Court with a petition. Subsequently, the court has issued notices to the respondents which also include the state government of Sikkim. There is a quota of 12 seats in the MBBS course at SMIMS for Sikkim students. Next hearing is set for 22 August.
It is informed that the institute had been allowed to take in 100 students in the past year/s after the High Court of Sikkim passed an order permitting the institute to take in 100 admissions. This order was passed in September 2011. While passing that order, the court had noted that the decision of the Board of Governors of MCI refusing increase of seats to 100, was not found convincing as records indicated that deficiencies of SMIMS had been accepted as being fully met; this was shown to be met by also considering the facilities at STNM Hospital and the peripheral hospitals of East District. Peculiarities of Sikkim being a hill state were also taken into account.