Medical team to visit NBMCH

TT, Siliguri, July 27: The Medical Council of India has written to the authorities of North Bengal Medical College and Hospital stating that a team will visit the institution any day after September 1 to see if the requirements mentioned by previous MCI teams were fulfilled for the renewal of permission to admit 50 additional MBBS students for the 2016-2017 session.

According to an NBMCH official, they received a letter from the MCI in mid-July.

"The MCI team will visit any day after September 1 for an inspection related to the renewal of permission for admitting 50 additional MBBS students for the 2016-2017 academic session," said an NBMCH official.

"The letter states that the MCI will take very strict note of doctors who are absent on the day of the inspection on any ground and the absentees will not be considered as the strength of the teaching faculty of the institute. They have written that an inspection of the infrastructure like hostel for students, lecture theatres and other requirements as per MCI stipulations would be conducted," he added.

The MCI had provisionally sanctioned 50 additional MBBS seats to NBMCH since 2012, and renewed the permission every year.

This year, the third batch of 50 additional students was admitted for the 2015-2016 session.

Earlier, NBMCH had 100 MBBS seats.

The stipulations mentioned by the MCI were a 600-seater auditorium, 250-seater and 400-seater lecture theatres and hostels to accommodate over 300 students. The previous MCI teams had also sought adequate senior residents and residential medical officers at NBMCH.

"We have been admitting 150 MBBS students for the past three years. However, the MCI has strictly said that the corresponding infrastructure should be provided as soon as possible. Work is on to construct hostels for boys and girls and the auditorium and lecture theatres and they are expected to be completed within the next two to three months. We are also trying to fulfil the faculty requirements recommended by MCI," an NBMCH official said.