COURTESY HT NOV 1
No MBBS classes at Mohali medical college this year too
National Medical Commission denies the permission citing certain shortcomings such as incomplete construction work and tardy process of hiring staff
The college named as Dr BR Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences, Mohali, will function out of the civil hospital. HT FILE
Ravinder Vasudeva
ravinder.vasudeva@htlive.com
CHANDIGARH : MBBS classes at the Dr BR Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences, Mohali, will not start this year as well with the National Medical Commission (erstwhile Medical Council of India) denying the permission to the college for the same, citing certain shortcomings.
This is the second consecutive year when the medical education regulatory body rejected the nod for starting the classes despite the state government’s tall claims.
An official said the commission has raised objections over incomplete construction work and tardy process of hiring the teaching and non-teaching staff.
“October 15 was the deadline for getting the permission to start the classes for this session. But the commission had some objections even as we have started hiring of teaching and non-teaching staff besides meeting other infrastructure-related requirements,” said Punjab medical education minister OP Soni.
“We will make renewed efforts to get the classes start in the next academic year,” he claimed.
In March this year, the government had constituted a board for the college with an aim to start the classes from this session.
Earlier, the medical education department had planned to start the classes from August this year but that was delayed as it failed to complete all formalities due to Covid-19, an official said.
The Rs 300-crore project was sanctioned in 2012 during the previous Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (SAD-BJP) government under the Central-state partnership with funding in the ratio of 60:40. The Punjab government had finalised the site of the existing civil hospital in Phase 6, Mohali, to set up the institute which will start with 100 MBBS seats and will be eventually upgraded to 220 seats.
The state government had also announced funding of Rs 157 crore for the construction of the college in its 2020-21 financial budget.
Last year as well, the state government made several efforts to start the college with 100 seats but shortcomings were pointed out by the then MCI during an inspection.
This will be the fourth government-run medical college in Punjab with the Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, Faridkot, being the last that was set up in 197