Chief secretary A.K. Sinha has constituted teams of professors from every government medical college in the state to inspect the healthcare institutions and point out drawbacks.

Sources said Sinha had taken the initiative because of the undertaking he had given to the Medical Council of India (MCI) promising to improve the health hubs.

R.P. Ojha, a spokesperson of the health department, confirmed the development to The Telegraph. “Two professors have been chosen from each of the six older government medical colleges, two newer ones in Pawapuri and Bettiah and Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences,” he said.

The team would inspect the medical colleges and identify infrastructure deficiency and faculty crunch. “The doctors would submit their reports to the chief secretary within a deadline,” said Ojha.

Special care has been taken while selecting the member of the teams. He said: “Professors have been asked to inspect colleges besides the ones in which they work. Those faculty members who have earlier been part of inspection teams of the MCI have been chosen.”

This has been done to ensure fair inspection. Also, as these doctors are familiar with the MCI procedure, they would be better able to point out the deficiencies in the health cradles that need to be plugged to satisfy the norms.

Earlier, the chief secretary would meet the heads of the medical colleges to find out what was required to improve its functioning. This time, however, the new procedure would take care of it.

Ojha said after the special teams submit their findings, a detailed project report would be prepared and development work carried out according to it.

Some of the inspection work has been carried out already.

Members of the teams claimed that they had found many deficiencies at the colleges they visited.

“I was a part of the team that carried out the inspection at Nalanda Medical College and Hospital,” said one of the inspectors, who did not want to be named. “During the inspection, I found that the condition of the college and the hospital left many things to be desired.”

Sharing some of his findings, the doctor said: “The number of beds was less than required. The hospital did not have necessary equipment like CT scan and MRI. There was also shortage of Grade III and Grade IV employees at both the college and the hospital. There had been no recruitment to fill up the vacant posts.”

He added that the condition of the hostel for female students was also deplorable. “Water from a nearby drain often enters the facility, making life difficult for the students.”

Another doctor, who is also a member of the teams, was sceptical about whether the government would be able to address the problems within a deadline or not.

“We have been asked to point the deficiencies. We would do that in our reports to the chief secretary. But there are too many problems with the government medical colleges. I’m not sure that the government would be able to address all the problems within the deadline.”