The decision of the Medical Council of India on granting recognition to an additional 50 MBBS seats to the Mysore Medical College and Research Institute (MMCRI), one of the oldest medical institutions in the country, will be known by next month.
For, a team from the MCI assessed the standards followed by the college in conducting examinations for UG students. The last step remaining for getting the recognition is the final inspection by a three-member MCI panel next month.
Five years ago, the MMCRI got conditional permission to increase its intake from 100 to 150 seats and the permission was renewed every year subject to certain conditions till this year. So many factors go in favour of securing recognition, which includes adequate number of faculty, infrastructure and so on.
MMCRI Dean and Director B. Krishnamurthy, who accompanied the MCI team, told The Hindu that the final inspection was due next month for granting recognition to 50 seats for the next five years.
“We are hopeful of getting the recognition since we have fulfilled the mandated conditions. On getting the recognition, it will be included in the record books of MCI after a review by the Executive Committee of MCI,” he said.
Asked whether the MMCRI was facing shortage of faculty, the Director said, “The scarcity was negligible. It is less than five per cent. This won’t be a bottleneck.”
Psychiatry course
However, the MMCRI was unable to understand the “delay” in inspecting the college by the MCI over its application for permission to start a PG course in psychiatry.
After two failed attempts, the MMCRI had re-applied seeking permission for the course, but there is still no word from the MCI. Even the mandatory inspection had not taken place.
The Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bengaluru, had already given its nod to MMCRI for starting an MD Course in psychiatry from the academic year 2013-14. But, the MCI “delay” in conducting inspection had put off the MMCRI’s plans.
With only a few trained psychiatrists in the country, the demand for psychiatrists had increased and therefore advanced studies in psychiatric care had become essential, sources in the MMMCRI said.
At K.R. Hospital here, the psychiatry department gets around 4,000 patients a month. The load on the department had gone up substantially due to severe scarcity of specialists. The department does not even have a professor’s post.
We are hopeful of getting the recognition since we have fulfilled the mandated conditions.
B. Krishnamurthy,
MMCRI Dean and Director