MGM Medical College and Hospital in Jamshedpur faces de-recognition threat from MCI. A Telegraph file picture

Jamshedpur, May 15: Two medical colleges in the state have said they meet the guidelines of the national statutory body, while the third has asked for more time.

While Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi and Patliputra Medical College and Hospital (PCMH) in Dhanbad are ready to face a re-inspection by the Medical Council of India (MCI), MGM Medical College and Hospital here has said it needs some more time.

In a meeting held on February 18, the MCI had given the colleges three months to improve facilities. The deadline expires on May 18.

The council deferred the de-affiliation following a mercy appeal made by Gajendra Thakur, a member of the MCI executive body and president of the Bihar chapter of the Indian Medical Association.

De-affiliation was deferred for 90 days on condition that the institutions would upgrade the existing facilities in their hospitals. Thakur said: ?The executive body of the council will again review the facilities in the three medical colleges after May 18.?

RIMS and PMCH said they had upgraded their facilities according to MCI guidelines.

S.C. Das, principal of PMCH, said the student-teacher ratio in departments such as medicine, physiology and psychiatry have improved.

Vacant posts of professors and associate professors in about 15 clinical departments were also recently filled, he added.

RIMS has started construction of a hi-tech auditorium at a cost of Rs 3.80 crore, which has been sanctioned by the state government.

The medical college was asked to complete construction of the auditorium as soon as possible at the last meeting.

N.N. Agrawal, director of RIMS, declined to comment on the deadline set by MCI, but said the conditions at the medical college had improved over the past few months.

Speaking over the telephone from Patna, Gajendra Thakur (member MCI) said: ?The executive body of the council will review the facilities of the three medical colleges after the end of three months deadline on May 18.?

In case of any discrepancies, MCI might take a decision for de-recognition of the medical colleges. But, it will depend on the decision of the members of the executive committee.

The MGM Medical College and Hospital in the city, however, has not yet been able to adhere to the conditions laid down by the MCI.

College principal D.B. Sarangi admitted: ?Things need to be improved.?

The 12-bed intensive care unit (ICU) and the intensive critical care unit (ICCU) lie unused despite being constructed six months ago.

MCI officials had asked the hospital authorities to make the ICU operational in December. Moreover, it has not been able to procure a CT-scan machine though the state government had sanctioned Rs 7 crore for it two years ago.

The purchasing committee said it was undecided between two manufacturers, which resulted in the delay.

?But we have filled-up the vacant posts of teachers, besides improving facilities at the laboratories and library,? said Sarangi.