The Medical Council of India (MCI) has denied renewal of recognition for two postgraduate courses offered by the Dr. A.L. Mudaliar PG Institute of Basic Medical Sciences of the University of Madras, citing deficiencies in infrastructure and faculty.
The statutory body has also reiterated its earlier decision to stop admission to the two courses, MD Microbiology and MD Pathology. The MCI’s PG Medical Education Committee, in a recent meeting, noted that it had considered the compliance along with council assessor’s report of May 2013 and decided not to renew the recognition of MD Microbiology and MD Pathology qualification granted by the university.
The institute functions at the Taramani campus of the university. Candidates who have completed MBBS are eligible to pursue the MD programmes.
Listing out the reasons for denying renewal for MD Microbiology, the MCI said there were four teaching faculty, all of whom were non-medical, which was not as per regulations.
A blood bank facility and biochemistry diagnostic services were not available, according to the minutes of its meeting. The deficiency of faculty with regard to a department of a 50-seat medical college was cited as another reason for denying renewal of recognition of the PG course.
For rejecting the recognition for the MD Pathology course, the committee has listed eight reasons, including the lack of a hospital attached to the institution and a blood bank.
In histopathology, specimens were received only from private nursing homes, while routine investigations were not carried out for haematology, the committee had stated.
The department was not undertaking cytology and urine examination. The lack of a central research laboratory was another reason cited. As in microbiology, the pathology department, too, faced a deficiency in faculty.
A senior faculty member of the institute said there was no problem in terms of infrastructure and they were waiting for recruitment of faculty (that has been put on hold as model code of conduct for the elections is in effect). Another faculty member said steps were being taken to obtain MCI approval.
University of Madras vice-chancellor R. Thandavan could not be reached for comment.
