The government will not be able to start any of its once proposed medical colleges from the coming academic session.

The three new medical colleges at Bettiah, Madhepura and Pawapuri in Nalanda suffered a jolt with Medical Council of India (MCI) denying permission to start MBBS course at any of them this year.

The council on Monday refused permission to the proposed health cradles at Bettiah and Madhepura citing inadequate infrastructure and insufficient number of medical teachers. An MCI team had inspected the two medical colleges in the last week of June.

Only 16 medical teachers are posted at Madhepura. The number of teachers at Bettiah is 46, far less than the required number of teachers required to start medical colleges with 100 seats.

Principal secretary of health Vyasji admitted that the present status of infrastructure at Bettiah and Madhepura hospitals — where the medical colleges are supposed to come up — was not enough to support 100-seat institutions. But he was hopeful of Pwapuri getting the licence to start the MBBS course from this year.

Vyasji told The Telegraph: “We had pitched hard to get the permission for at least Pawapuri (Nalanda) medical college but the MCI and the Union health ministry were not convinced. It is disappointing but we will try to address the deficiencies by the next year.”

Vyasji said: “We were hopeful that the MCI will give its nod for Pawapuri. I personally camped in New Delhi for quite a few days, but in vain.”

Sources said Pawapuri — with a strength of 68 medical teachers — could have missed out on the permission because the faculty members posted at the institution were not getting salaries from the medical college for the past one year following Nalanda district magistrate’s objection. These doctors were deputed to other medical colleges of the state and the district magistrate had stopped their salaries on the grounds that those not “reporting” to work could not be paid salaries on the basis of the government’s “no work, no salary” policy.

The state government’s only saving grace in opening medical colleges in the state was the Centre’s recent permission to enroll 50 MBBS students at AIIMS-Patna, an autonomous institution funded by the Union health ministry.

The MCI on Wednesday also renewed permission of Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences to run the MBBS course for 100 students. Though the MCI had pointed out to some major deficiencies at the institute during its inspection in May, the green signal made the state government heave a sigh of relief.

IGIMS started its operation last year. The health cradle has augmented the number of medical teachers from 17 to 28 in the last year. Recently, tenders worth Rs 126 crore were floated to invite bidders for the construction of the medical college, hostels, library and various other facilities.