All colleges/institutions which are not reflected in the list provided with the link shown at para 5 below and have students admitted at UG level shall be required to follow UGMSR 2023 and MSMER 2023 failing which, appropriate action shall be taken against the college/institution.
The National Medical Commission (NMC), an Indian regulatory body, has issued notices to several medical colleges in India due to their inability to maintain a minimum 75 per cent attendance of faculty members over three months. Interestingly, states with a low density of medical colleges reported some of the highest gaps in attendance. “With reference to the applications received from U-15024/9/2023-UGMEB 3445815/2023/UGMEB I/3636790/2023 various medical colleges for increase of seats/ renewal of permissions/ recognition of degree / continuation of Recognition for MBBS, attendance of faculties have been observed and scrutinized in accordance with the provisions contained in MSR 2020 so as to help colleges to cope up with the actual requirement as per Regulations/Guidelines, through AEBAS for the period from 19.6.2023 to 19.9.2023. 75% attendance of the faculties which is a mandatory requirement have been found deficient,” NMC in an official notification.
However, as per the IndianExpress report, sources in the apex medical education regulator stated the shortage in attendance reported on the online Aadhaar-based biometric system is most likely because of a shortage in faculty itself. It has been made mandatory for faculty members to mark the attendance online. While the provisions were there since 2020, it started being enforced last year onwards. If the colleges had faculty, why would they not mark the attendance. Almost all the shortfall in attendance is because the colleges do not have requisite faculty members,” the official was quoted as saying to IndianExpress.
In the event of an actual shortfall in the count of faculty members, colleges will encounter challenges in addressing the deficiency. As per an official notice(dated December 18, 2023), all the Medical Colleges are hereby informed that they must follow the UG-MSR 2023 and MSMER 2023 and fulfill the requirements accordingly, at their earliest. In the absence of these requirements or deficiency in any of the fields, proposal for increase of seats/ renewal of permissions/recognition of MBBS degree/ continuation of Recognition shall not be considered and admissions for the Academic Year 2024-25 shall not be allowed. “All colleges/institutions which are not reflected in the list provided with the link shown at para 5 below and have students admitted at UG level shall be required to follow UGMSR 2023 and MSMER 2023 failing which, appropriate action shall be taken against the college/institution,” the notice further reads.
National Medical Commission (NMC) has found itself issuing warnings to countless colleges for the second year running. In a twist, appeals have led to all but nine private colleges being granted permission to admit students. While these nine medical colleges still figure on the list of colleges with deficiencies, according to another NMC member, other colleges which were permitted to take in students last year also didn’t fulfill the requirements,” the report further reads. “Most of the colleges were allowed to admit students on appeal. Otherwise, the entire medical education sector would have collapsed. There is no government college in the country where the deficiency is less than 25% to 30% – NMC provisions allow only for a shortfall of 10% – meaning these colleges should technically be closed. The situation is worse in state medical colleges,” an NMC member was quoted as saying to IndianExpress.
Check State-Wise Updates : States with deficiencies
Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Punjab have been noticed for their low capacity of medical colleges, an issue that sparks widespread concerns. Over half of these medical colleges received official warnings, with Uttar Pradesh topping the list as 56 out of its 68 medical learning institutions received similar notices. What’s more startling is that several of these colleges show an unsettling lack of staff attendance.
In Madhya Pradesh, notices were issued to 20 out of the 27 medical colleges, including well-known government colleges like Gandhi Medical College in Bhopal and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College in Jabalpur. Similarly, in Jharkhand, notices were sent to six out of the nine medical colleges, and in Punjab, eight out of the 12 received notices.