Berhampur, May 4: A four-member team of the Medical Council of India (MCI) visited the Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapati (MKCG) Medical College and Hospital here yesterday to inspect its infrastructure.

College authorities feel that the team's report will be crucial to the increase of its MBBS seats.

"If the team gives a positive report then the seats in the MBBS course may increase from 150 to 250 from the 2016-17 academic session here," said medical college principal and dean Arun Kumar Dandapat.

The four-member MCI team consisted of Abhimanyu Basu, a professor of surgery at the Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research in Calcutta; Suresh Kumar, a professor of medicine at Maulana Azad Medical College in New Delhi; V.P. Tej, a professor of social and preventive medicine at Rangaraya Medical College in Andhra Pradesh; and M.P. Sudhanshu, a professor of anatomy at Patna Medical College in Bihar.

The team members visited the hospital's indoor and outdoor wards and discussed various issues with the dean as well as hospital superintendent Ashok Behera. They also checked the medical college's faculty strength and the hospital's patient inflow.

The director of the state's directorate of medical education and training, Prakash Chandra Mohapatra, accompanied the team members during the inspection.

"We are expecting positive feedback from the MCI team. We hope the number of seats in the college will be increased," he said.

The medical college is setting up a special treatment ward, an intensive care unit, a library, a lecturer theatre, a conference hall and many more modern facilities following the MCI guidelines.

On the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the medical college in December 2012, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had announced that the number of MBBS seats in the college would be increased from 150 to 250 from the 2014-15 academic session. However, that did not happen.

The state government again requested the Union government to increase the MBBS seats at MKCG from 2015-16 session. But, the MCI declined the request on the ground of shortage of lecturers after a visit in April last year.

"However, though the staff position has remains the same, we are hopeful of a positive result this time," said Dandapat.