'PG medical course admission process flawed'

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, AUG. 23. The Minister of State for Medical Education, Dr. G. Parameshwar, has said that the process of admission to postgraduate courses in Medicine will be changed from next year after a study of the defects in the present system.

Dr. Parameshwar, who was recently vested with the Medical Education portfolio, is also in charge of Higher Education. He told presspersons here today that there were complaints about the courses being set apart for merit students by the private medical colleges. One specific complaint was that the subjects for which there was a poor demand were being allotted under the government quota and the others were included in the management quota. The admission matrix for the various postgraduate courses for the current academic year was ready and would be issued in two days.

Under the Medical Council of India (MCI) rules, governed by the directions of the Supreme Court, 80 per cent of postgraduate seats in private colleges came under the management quota and 20 per cent came under the government quota. However, with several private medical colleges having only one or two seats for several of the in-demand postgraduate subjects, the government quota suffered. In cases where there were five seats, the government quota was just one seat.

Dr. Parameshwar said admissions were presently going on for the MBBS course. The MCI, which had earlier barred admissions to two private medical colleges, had now lifted the ban on the Yenepoya Medical College, Mangalore after the college fulfilled some of the conditions. The ban on admissions to the Khade Bande Nawaz Medical College, Gulbarga, however, continued.

Dr. Parameshwar said that with medical education being governed by specific rules and monitored by various agencies, including the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences and the MCI, the State Government would now focus its attention on improving the conditions in the government-run teaching hospitals. The functioning of professors and the purchase of medical equipment and drugs would be closely monitored, apart from the upkeep of government hospitals. Several of the hospitals were in need of urgent attention.

The minister, who held a meeting with the heads of all the government teaching hospitals two days ago, said monitoring the functioning of the hospitals was an important part of his assignment and he would devote more time to this aspect. ``I will spend at least half a day in each hospital and go into all aspects. There is no point in making a hurried visit. There are complaints galore, and I would like to attend to at least a major share of them. This has been brought to the notice of the superintendents of all the hospitals.''

Ragging: Referring to a complaint of ragging reported at the private M.S. Ramaiah Medical College here, he said ragging was a cognisable offence and would be looked into seriously. If it was established that the management of the college was trying to cover up the incident, then it would be pulled up by the Government. Each college was expected, under the rules, to constitute an anti-ragging squad which included the local police officer.

Asked about the junior doctors frequently going on strike, Dr. Parameshwar said the Government would find a lasting solution to the problem. Generally, the strike by the junior doctors centred around the payment of stipend, and the Government would study the situation in the other States and arrive at a uniform policy on stipend. ``We will arrive at a clear-cut policy and tell the junior doctors about the Government's stand.''

On the Kannada Development Authority recommending that Kannada should be included as a language of study in medical education, he said medical education was controlled by various agencies and they should all accept the recommendation if Kannada was to be introduced. Study of languages in professional courses was discontinued a long time ago. ``We will look into this matter,'' he said. There was also a demand from the protagonists of Kannada that it should be the medium of instruction in the professional courses to at least meet the demands of the rural students.

The Karnataka Universities Bill, which was recently approved by the two Houses of the Legislature, would now be sent to the Governor for her assent. Guidelines under the Act would be framed after the Governor gave her assent, he added.

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Section  : Southern States
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