Hyderabad: Over 700 MBBS seats will be cancelled in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states if the medical colleges fail to upgrade their infrastructure facilities as pointed out by the Medical Council of India.
The MCI toured all the colleges and inspected the premises before finally upgrading the seats in the existing medical colleges. Those under scanner are Gandhi Medical College, medical colleges in Nizamabad, Nellore, and Tirupati, Andhra Medical College and also SV Medical College.
These colleges have existing medical seats but the increase in seats was given in the year 2013. A senior member said, “From 2013 to 2014, sufficient time was given to these colleges to upgrade the facilities. In the inspections carried out now, infrastructure has proved to be the biggest drawback.
In a class of 200 students, the professor has to ensure that he has the attention of all the students. For this, the seating arrangement is a very important factor. These issues were pointed out but implementation has not been up to the mark.” Similarly, lack of faculty in anatomy and bio-chemistry department are some of the major reasons for the extra 50 seats to be rejected in Gandhi Medical College.
Other colleges, too, have drawbacks like lack of hostel facilities, proper infrastructure to house extra students and teaching staff.
A senior professor said, “The problem is that erstwhile state government has not paid proper attention while dispersing the funds. When the seats were to be increased they should have ensured that these facilities were in place. Now persuading the MCI members to give in to the demands will create chaos on the ground level as the situation will be difficult to manage.”
Director of health and medical education for the Telangana region, Dr P. Srinivas said, “The MCI has submitted their report to the government. There is still scope for improvement and the administration can make a few changes and appeal to the government for a fresh inspection. There is no formal announcement yet.”
