Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday shot off a letter to the Union health and family welfare minister requesting him to reconsider the Medical Council of India’s decision of denying Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences permission to admit MBBS students this year.

The Medical Council of India (MCI) has denied Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) the permission to take any admission to its 100 MBBS seats. Sources attributed the MCI’s stand to the infrastructure problem and faculty shortage in the college. The institution reportedly could not fulfil many of the MCI norms required to run a medical college, including girls’ and boys’ hostels, auditorium and laboratory facilities.

Nitish assured Ghulam Nabi Azad that all deficiencies would be rectified in a time-bound manner. “The decision has surprised me because in several similarly placed cases, the undertakings given by chief secretary/health secretaries concerned and even ESI Corporation have been duly considered and approvals granted by the MCI in the same meeting.” Nitish also demanded approval for setting up of Government Medical College, Bettiah, this year.

A doctor attached with IGIMS, preferring anonymity, said: “IGIMS has not been fulfilling many MCI criteria. For a medical college, it is necessary to have girls’ and boys’ hostel facilities. The college has completed three years but it has not been able to build students’ hostels. However, the college administration alone could not be held responsible for this because the health department showed reluctance towards the development work of the college.”

He added: “Though the college made temporary arrangements for students’ accommodation in the doctors’ residences for the first two batches, it has not arranged anything for this year. The college also does not have an auditorium or proper lecture theatres.”

College director Arun Kumar said he and other faculty members were shocked to learn of MCI’s decision.

“We have not received any letter from MCI regarding this decision. But we came to know about it from the MCI website, where it clearly mentions that it has not renewed its permission for admission to the MBBS course of our college,” said Kumar.

The director added: “We are at a loss because whatever deficiencies MCI pointed out after its March inspection, we promised to fulfil them. In May, I was called to take part in the MCI’s governing body meeting regarding this matter. At that time, I informed them about the steps the college administration has recently taken for meeting the deficiencies. I told MCI officials that the college has floated tenders for its vacant resident doctors’ posts and that we were in the final leg of the tendering process. I don’t understand why MCI took this decision even after knowing this.”

Another doctor, wishing anonymity, said: “The college does not have a forensic lab to conduct post-mortem. There is also a huge crisis of doctors and paramedical staff in the obstetrics and gynaecology department of the college.”