Almost ready: Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences

Patna, Sept. 2: Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) has begun the process of appointing faculty members for the new health cradle to fill up vacancies.

Sources said four posts in the basic science departments — anatomy and physiology — of the tertiary health centre are yet to be filled. Advertisements for these have already been published.

Senior officers of the health hub said they expect to finish the appointment process in two weeks. First-year MBBS classes are slated to start on September 9.

The medical college at IGIMS is a 450-bed tertiary care health hub. In June this year, it got approval to set up a 100-seat medical college from Medical Council of India (MCI) under Section 10A of the MCI Act. Meeting the requisite number of faculty members is a must, claim experts. The conditional permission states that the process of annual renewal of permit will continue till the establishment of the medical college and the expansion of hospital facilities are completed according to the MCI norms.

Senior officers at IGIMS said the centre was “almost ready” with infrastructure, resources and faculty to start classes for the first MBBS batch. The facilities, however, will have to be expanded for batches next year onwards.

“The state government has promised to approve Rs 500 crore for the institution. Plan are afoot to expand the health hub into a 500-bed modern centre for medical college and healthcare,” said an official.

A source in the health department said according to the MCI standards, an institution needs at least 25 acres of land, recognition from the University Grants Commission and adequate number of medical staff to start the MBBS course. The institution’s plan to convert the health cradle into a 500-bed hospital — a must for a medical college with a capacity of 100 students — is, however, stuck because of lack of funds. The state government has promised to release the money by next year.

Ninety-five of 100 seats at IGIMS have been filled up in the meanwhile. The remaining five will be filled through a third round of counselling of students of Bihar Combined Competitive Entrance Examination merit list.

The admission process to the medical college has not had a smooth journey. On August 19, a single bench of Patna High Court imposed a stay on the entire admission process of the IGIMS while hearing a petition filed by Kumar Kshitiz Abhinav.

He sought a stay on the admission to the MBBS course in IGIMS on the basis of the state combined entrance examination. Abhinav, who could not clear the state entrance exam, had applied for appearing in the all-India written examination for which the institution had initially invited applications but then revised their decision to admit students through the second round of counselling of students figuring in the state entrance merit list.