Almost two years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over the inauguration, three medical colleges in Jharkhand have not enrolled students in the 2020-21 academic session, after the National Medical Commission (NMC) prevented these institutions from taking admissions due to ‘deficiencies’ in infrastructure.
In the 2019-20 session, around 580 MBBS seats were allotted across six medical colleges in Jharkhand.
Consequently, there has been a massive shortage in the number of MBBS seats in Jharkhand this year, with only three government medical colleges – MGM College Jamshedpur (100 seats), RIMS Ranchi (180 seats), PMCH Dhanbad (50 seats) – as opposed six.
Additionally, a private medical Manipal-Tata Medical College, Jamshedpur, has about 25 seats under it.
Chandrashekharam, the parent of an MBBS aspirant who had cleared NEET in 2020, said that when the medical entrance test was conducted in September last year, there were around 680 MBBS seats across six government medical colleges in Jharkhand.
He asserts that admissions to these three colleges were stopped, as soon as results for NEET 2020 were declared.
According to Chandrashekharam, the Manipal-Tata Medical College can only be accessed by the rich, as the private institution charges an annual fee of Rs 11 lakh. Whereas, in the other states, “private medical colleges of Manipal charge four lakh annual fees,” he asserts.
Abhishek Kumar, who had scored 675 marks in NEET (UG) 2020, couldn’t secure admissions as the cut-off stopped at 603 marks in Jharkhand. With seats available only at the Manipal-Tata Medical College, Kumar is thinking of appearing for the NEET again in 2021.
But Kumar cannot find peace in appearing for NEET again. “If the same thing happens next year, what will I do?” he asks.
One of the institutions that was inaugurated by PM Modi in 2019 and was later banned by the NMC due to lack of facilities is the Hazaribagh Medical College. It’s Principal, Dr SK Singh, pointed out a crippling lack of infrastructure at the facility.
He says that infrastructure does not only refer to buildings, but also includes instruments, equipment and laboratories. Referring to MCI’s charge that there’s a 30 percent shortage of faculty in the college, Singh said that faculties from Jamshedpur, Ranchi and Dhanbad medical colleges were transferred here.
On 5 November, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren had written a letter to the chairman of the NMC, urging him to not stop fresh admissions of medical students to Dumka, Hazaribagh and Palamu medical colleges.
In his letter, CM Soren stated that installation of some equipment could not be completed due to the COVID lockdown.
Banna Gupta, Jharkhand’s Health Minister said that the state government as well as CM Soren have spoken to the Union Health Minister about admissions to all three medical colleges.
Asserting that around 86 people have been posted in three colleges, Gupta said that the NMC’s decision has made the future of around three hundred children bleak.
“It is not necessary that there should be a single-party government in the country and the state. That is why any government is a federal government, and there is no difference of opinion among the governments on the issue of public interest. Now, the central government should take cognizance of this issue,” he said.
For decades, medicine was taught at three government colleges – MGM, Jamshedpur, RIMS, Ranchi and PMCH, Dhanbad. In February 2019, during the Raghubar Das government in Jharkhand, three new medical colleges – Hazaribagh, Palamu and Dumka – were inaugurated by the Prime Minister.
These colleges, however, were refused recognition by the NMC, which had pointed out several gaps in infrastructure.
Ashok Kumar Gupta, a parent, said that while other colleges across the country were being allowed to run, the new ones in Jharkhand, which are in the same condition as other colleges, were being prevented from operating. This, he said, was a “huge injustice” to the students of Jharkhand.
Gupta also said that parents have advised Chief Minster Soren to approach the Supreme Court and not write to the NMC, as it will be of no use.
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