Siliguri, Jan. 2: The highest body that governs health education in the country has told North Bengal Medical College and Hospital to submit a report on augmentation of infrastructure at the institute by January 21 and if the reply is not satisfactory, no permission will be granted to admit 150 MBBS students in the next academic session.

The Medical Council of India had already set three deadlines for the NBMCH to set up additional infrastructure and appoint more faculty for 50 provisional MBBS seats granted in 2013.

The NBMCH, which has, otherwise, 100 MBBS seats in total, was told to send the report elaborating on the additional infrastructure put in place at the sole referral hospital of north Bengal.

Samir Ghosh Roy, the NBMCH principal, said the college had received the letter from the MCI on December 26, seeking the compliance report by January 21.

The development comes after two teams of the MCI visited NBMCH in September and November last year to assess the infrastructure on the 100 existing and 50 provisional MBBS seats.

'In the letter, the MCI raised points on the setting up of additional lecture theatres, hostels for students, anatomy demonstration room and medical records' room. The MCI also said there was no post of a statistician at NBMCH. The apex body has sought a compliance report from us by January 21 and we will send it soon,' Ghosh Roy said today.

'The MCI has also mentioned in the letter that if it is not satisfied with our compliance report, the body will not grant us the 150 MBBS seats for the upcoming academic session that begins in August,' he added.

Ghosh Roy said the post of statistician had been recently created in all medical colleges across the state, including NBMCH. 'The state government will fill up the posts very soon,' he said.

A 1,000-seat auditorium and two 250-seat lecture theatres, one each at the hospital and at the medical college, and hostels with capacity to accommodate 250 MBBS students, were some of the infrastructure requirements stipulated by the MCI for 50 additional seats.

NBMCH officials said work on the infrastructure requirements mentioned by the MCI in its letter had just begun and was scheduled to be completed in three months.

However, the NBMCH authorities admitted that if the MCI was not satisfied with the report, it might face problems in accommodating the 150 MBBS seats.

'The period of six months granted by the MCI for the fulfilment of infrastructure stipulated by them for 50 additional seats ended in December. The PWD has just begun constructing lecture theatres, hostels and other infrastructure requirements mentioned in the MCI letter. The PWD has assured us that it will complete the work in the next three months. We will mention all these in the compliance report,' said an official.

'There are still six months left for the new academic session. But if the MCI is not satisfied with the compliance report, then, it will be a major problem for us to admit any MBBS student in the 2015 academic session,' said the official.

He said there was no shortage of teachers for MBBS students.

'The MCI has asked for the appointment of a statistician. A statistician translates all figures on patients and bed occupancy and other details into sensible data. They have a lot of contribution in public health research,' said the official.