Berhampur, Oct. 6: A four-member Medical Council of India (MCI) team found 25 junior doctors and senior residents missing from duty during a visit to the state-run MKCG Medical College and Hospital here today.

The team, led by Pradip Garg, was on a two-day visit to inspect the facilities after the authorities increased the number of seats in the under-graduate MBBS course from 150 to 250. The other members in the team include N.C. Mandal, Arun Kumar Dey and Satish Kumar.

"It is a matter of concern that 25 senior residents and junior doctors were absent from duty during our visit. There is an urgent need to fill up the vacant laboratory technician positions," Garg said.

However, college principal Arun Kumar Dandapat said the doctors had gone to attend an interview for the appointment of assistant professor, which was pre-scheduled, and they had also taken prior permission."The MCI agreed to increase the number of seats by 100 from the current academic session on the condition of infrastructure development and we have fulfilled all those conditions. We have constructed a new academic block, conference hall, lecture theatre, laboratory, library building and four hostels for postgraduate and undergraduate students," said Dandapat.

The team visited all the facilities and expressed satisfaction. It also inspected the sanitation system, mechanised laundry and blood bank on the premises. The team also discussed improvements to the infrastructure facilities to renew permission for the 100 seats during the next session with the principal, medical superintendent and all heads of departments.

"The number of seats at MKCG increased from 107 to 150 during 2010-11. The state government had requested the Centre to increase the seats further from 150 to 250 during 2012-13," Dandapat said.

This was the second visit made by a team from the MCI to the hospital, southern Odisha's only referral hospital, in the past eight months. Both the teams concentrated on development of infrastructure for increase of seats. Although the team did not spell out anything, the medical college authorities were confident of getting the nod to admit 250 students to undergraduate courses in 2017-18 as well.