Indira Gandhi Institute of Cardiology

Patna, June 9: Indira Gandhi Institute of Cardiology (IGIC) is all set to start DM (Doctoratus and Medicinus) courses. It has got the required permission from the Medical Council of India (MCI) to start the super-speciality courses to be pursued after MD (Doctor of Medicine).

Sources in the hospital said there would be two seats for the DM course at the centre initially.

“The MCI has recently given green signal to start the course. We had also sought renewal of DNB (Diplomat in National Board) in cardiology course and a team comprising senior members of MCI has just finished the inspection. A letter of approval from the MCI is expected soon,” a senior IGIC official said.

He added that the number of the DNB seats would depend on the recommendation of the MCI and the Union government.

IGIC is the only government health facility in the state where advanced heart surgeries, including bypass surgery and single and double valve replacement, are carried out.

DNB is considered a high qualification. The National Board of Examinations offers it.

DNB can be obtained in different subjects, including cardiology, neurology, cardiac surgery and neurosurgery. The course requires three years of additional training and study and then passing an examination, both theory and practical.

Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, which would start postgraduate medical courses in three streams from academic session 2011-2012, is also awaiting permission from MCI to start DM courses. The health cradle will start MD courses in anaesthesiology, biochemistry and microbiology. Four seats will be up for grabs this session for the MD course in anaesthesiology. Three seats will be available in MD in biochemistry. Two students will be able to pursue the MD course in microbiology this session.

At present, the institution offers MCh (Magister of Chirugig) in urology. It is a super-specialisation course for doctors. The course was introduced in 2009.

The health centre has applied for starting DM in gastro-medicine, another super-specialisation course. An MCI team inspected the health hub for the course. The permission to introduce the course is awaited.

The institution is also expecting an approval to start MBBS course in the facility. The MCI had recently carried out a two-day inspection of the institute to check if the facility was ready to start a full-fledged medical college. A three-member team inspected earlier and sent its report to the MCI headquarters in New Delhi. Depending on the report sent by the team, the health ministry is expected to decide on the fate of the proposed medical college.

Sources said the institute had applied for an intake of 100 students starting next academic session. As per the MCI standards, an institution needs at least 25 acres of land, University Grants Commission’s recognition and adequate number of medical staff to start a medical college. IGIMS have all these in right proportions. But the institution’s plan to convert it into a 500-bed hospital, a must for a medical school with a capacity of 100 students, is hanging in balance because of funds crunch.