JNIMS just a pipe dream ?
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Source: The Sangai Express / S Bokuljaoba

Imphal, November 06 2008: Notwithstanding the efforts of the State Government to set up Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences after restructuring Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital, many have raised questions about the feasibility of the initiative.

Although everyone would welcome a medical college in the State, many are sceptical whether the Medical Council of India (MCI) may approve such a project in Manipur which reportedly does not fulfil a single criteria required for establishing a medical college.

Even though the State Government is working hard to implement the project expeditiously so that the medical college can start its maiden session from June-July next year, many have expressed apprehension that the initiative may prove a herculean task.

Chief Minister inspecting JN hospital for the proposed medical college on November 4

One official of the Health Department opined that the initiative may prove impossible.

With none of the basic prerequisites necessary for a medical college present in the State, it is hard to set up a new medical college in such a short period.

For the physical infrastructure like land and building, the MCI may not object to the proposal for setting up a medical college by using the existing physical infrastructure with the provision to add/enlarge later.

But the existing condition of JN Hospital is worse than the condition of RIMS 30 years back, then named RMC, he observed.

While talking at the personal level, the MCI officials disclosed about the impracticability of setting up a medical college in Manipur under the existing condition, conveyed the official adding that none of the doctors under the Health Department have any teaching experience.

Another RIMS official (who asked for anonymity) explained that before granting approval to set up medical college at JN Hospital, the MCI would first collect detailed reports about the number of major operations performed in a day, number of minor operations, average number of delivery per day and the number of OPD patients in a day.

For a medical college to be set up , it is a must to have at least Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry Departments.

For every Department, it is a basic necessity to have one Professor, one Associate Professor, one Assistant Professor and one Demonstrator or Registrar.

But the dampening fact is that none of the doctors under the State Health Department has any teaching experience, he asserted.

According to MCI rules, the Director or Principal of a medical college should have at least 16 years of teaching experience.

This is another criteria not fulfilled by any doctors of the Health Department, he noted.

Moreover, once the proposed medical college is set up, a surgeon working under the State Government for several years would be degraded to the status of an Assistant Professor.

This would create certain problems among the doctors regarding their status and ranks, the official said.

For the medical college to thrive, it would need recruitment of experienced teachers from medical colleges based outside the State otherwise the same fate that befalls the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Shillong may fall upon the proposed medical college.

North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Medical Sciences is still unable to function properly though it was established 7/8 years back, added the RIMS official.