The Union health ministry, overruling a Supreme Court panel, has banned 32 private medical colleges from admitting students for two years over substandard facilities.
Read: MCI de-recognises 51 medical colleges for academic year 2016-17
The colleges had to forfeit a security deposit of Rs 2 crore. However, the government has allowed 4,000 undergrad students to continue their courses at the said institutes.
According to Hindustan Times, Arun Singhal, joint secretary, health and family welfare said, "We based our decision on the inspection report which highlighted gross deficiency of facilities. But the decision will not impact students already studying."
However, Singhal did not clarify why the government allowed the colleges it found "unfit" to continue the courses.
With medical colleges mushrooming across India, there have been frequent reports of corruption and scams. The Supreme Court appointed a three-member Oversight Committee (OC), headed by former chief justice ML Lodha, to monitor private medical colleges.
The Medical Council of India (MCI) had permitted 17 of the 109 colleges to admit students for the academic year 2016, before the committee was constituted. However, the panel found 34 more colleges eligible to take in students, leading to a fresh round of inspections.
After HT revealed two of the 34 colleges deemed fit by the OC have substandard facilities including locked operation theatres, zero faculty and no patients, a joint team from the two bodies confirmed the Colleges lack basic facilities.
The MCI recommended a ban on 32 colleges and the panel allowed 26 colleges to admit students. The committee even alleged that the MCI had in fact not followed many inspection guidelines. But the MCI dismissed the allegation.
"It will be unfair to say that MCI did not adhere to the OC guidelines. The MCI has engaged the assessors from the OC panel and OC recommended institution in every team," said Jayshree Mehta, president of the MCI.
The Ministry analysed the inspection reports of both MCI and the OC and decided to ban 32 colleges from admitting students.
Meanwhile, the colleges have called the ban discriminatory and illegal. "Last year, the OC allowed 34 colleges to admit students and put in place a proper mechanism to inspect the facilities, but the MCI has grossly violated that process. It failed 32 colleges deliberately. It is witch-hunting," a private college representative said.
Even the students do not seem to be happy about the ban.
"If the government thinks that these colleges don't have facilities then we should be shifted to approved colleges immediately," a student from a private college said.
