An Indian Medical Council team at MKCG Medical College and Hospital in Berhampur. Picture by Gopal Krishna Reddy

Berhampur, May 15: A three-member team of the Medical Council of India (MCI) today visited the Maharaja Krishna Chandra Gajapati (M.K.C.G.) Medical College and Hospital to review the infrastructure facility as well as the quality of education being imparted by the premier institution. The college’s student intake capacity was increased from 107 to 150 in 2007.

The members of the MCI team included S.N. Samal, professor of anatomy at the Institute of Medical Sciences, Benaras, N.D. Moullick, professor of general medicine at the Lokamanya Tilak Medical College and Hospital, Mumbai, and Shyamlal Singla of the B.D. Sharma Medical College and Hospital at Rohtak in Haryana.

“The team was not very happy with the development of infrastructure at the hospital. The members, in fact, have been irked by the shortage of doctors and para-medical staff at the medical college and hospital. The state government has not initiated steps for recruitment of staff to fill up the vacant posts,” said Jogendra Prasad Behera, superintendent of M.K.C.G. Medical College and Hospital, Berhampur.

“We have assured the MCI team that we will adhere to the norms related to infrastructure development,” he said.

The team visited non-clinical departments such as anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, microbiology, pathology, and pharmacology, and clinical departments such as surgery, medicine, gynaecology, orthopaedics, and paediatrics. The team studied the number of staff in these departments, the condition of the instruments and other infrastructural facilities.

The state government has provided a grant of Rs 2crore for construction of a modern library and a hostel for postgraduate students. The government has also sanctioned Rs 9crore more for the construction and development of the library, which would include a conference hall and a digital library.