Ranchi, June 21: The Medical Council of India (MCI), which was believed to have given a provisional go-ahead to Jharkhand in May to admit students to 350 MBBS seats across its three medical colleges, actually recommended reducing the number by 100, a report on the meeting where the decision was taken has revealed.
The executive council of the apex body held the meeting in New Delhi on May 13, a day before the state medical entrance test.
Attended by several key officials, including principal secretary, health, K. Vidyasagar, the meeting discussed threadbare the existing infrastructure and faculty at RIMS-Ranchi, MGM-Jamshedpur and PMCH-Dhanbad. It finally came to the conclusion that while RIMS would be allowed to keep its increased 150 seats, MGM and PMCH could admit only 50 students each this year, and not 100 each as the state claims because of persistent infrastructural deficiencies.
This means that the number of medical seats in Jharkhand has been reduced from the existing 350 to 250, 60 more than what was recommended by the MCI in 2014 before Jharkhand High Court restored the status quo.
This year's recommendation has already been forwarded to the Union health ministry, which will now issue a final order.
But Vidyasagar, while speaking to the media after the May 13 meeting, had said that the MCI executive council had given the state "interim relief", allowing it to retain 350 seats provided it addressed faculty and manpower lacunae in the colleges by August - a claim that has now been belied by the report, a copy of which is with The Telegraph.
Nullifying the seat hike in Dhanbad's PMCH from 50 to 100, the report says: "The Executive Committee of the Council decided to recommend to the Central Govt. not to renew the permission for admission of 3 rd Batch of MBBS students against the increased intake i.e. from 50-100 of Patliputra Medical College, Dhanbad under Vinoba Bhave University, Hazaribagh u/s 10A of the IMC Act, 1956 for the academic year 2015-2016."
It is similarly harsh on Jamshedpur's MGM Medical College.
"The Executive Committee of the Council decided to recommend to the Central Govt. not to renew the permission for admission of 3 rd Batch of MBBS students against the increased intake i.e. from 50-100 of MGM Medical College, Jamshedpur under Kolhan University, Jharkhand u/s 10A of the IMC Act, 1956 for the academic year 2015-2016," reads the report.
RIMS is the only one to have survived the axe with the MCI accepting the state's plea to increase seats from 90 to 150.
"The Executive Committee of the Council considered the compliance verification assessment report (20.04.2015), assessment report (5th & 6th December, 2014) along with an undertaking of the Principal Secretary, Health & Medical Education, Govt. of Jharkhand, dated 13.05.2015 and decided to recommend to the Central Govt. to renew the permission for admission of 5 th Batch of MBBS students against the increased intake i.e. from 90-150 of Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences, Ranchi, Jharkhand under Ranchi University, Jharkhand u/s 10A of the IMC Act, 1956 for the academic year 2015-2016," the report adds.
It also points out specific infrastructural lacunae in PMCH and MGM like acute shortage of faculty members, doctors and absence of lecture halls (see chart).
Vidyasagar could not be contacted despite several attempts.
State health minister Ramchandra Chandravanshi also played down the report. " Nahi nahi. Aisa koi mamla nai hain. (No no. There is no such issue)," Chandravanshi told The Telegraph when asked about MCI's refusal to allow PMCH and MGM to keep the increased seats.
P.K. Senger, principal of PMCH-Dhanbad, and his MGM counterpart A.N. Mishra also refused to speak when contacted by The Telegraph this evening.
Oblivious to the controversy over seats, Jharkhand Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board (JCECEB) today went ahead and conducted counselling to fill up the state quota of 350 MBBS berths.
Prodded on the number of seats they had conducted counselling for, a JCECEB official, Om Prakash, said: "It is on the website. Please refer to the seat matrix provided to us by the health department."?
According to the website, the board had held counselling for the state share of seats, that is 122 seats at RIMS, 83 at MGM and 83 at PMCH.
The remaining seats come under central quota (students clearing the entrance test conducted by the CBSE).
Asked how they could conduct counselling when the MCI recommendation was pending with the Centre, Ram Kumar, deputy secretary in the health department, said, "No, the seats have not been slashed."
