Maharashtra: CPS students back MED’s action as college slapped with showcause notices

Mumbai: College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS) is continuously getting show-cause notices from the medical education department (MED) in a case related to anomalies found at the hospitals offering courses.

The students of the institutes affiliated to CPS across state are backing the MED’s action of stalling enrolment while demanding better regulation and monitoring mechanism, according to TOI.

As per the report by TOI, students said that they are discovering significant gaps in hospitals where they are studying, including lack of full-time teachers, infrastructure and practical learning experience.

The report further says a doctor enrolled in a two-year radiology diploma course at a CPS-affiliated institute in Latur has performed only a few scans in eight months. Another student, of dermatology, has been assigned work with a private consultant in a nearby hospital because the college has no skin department. A radiology student reported the institute installed CT and MRI machines last month but doesn’t have a full-time consultant.

Several students have written to state and national authorities, expressing concern that the quality of training at some institutes is subpar, consisting mostly of observational learning with little practical, hands-on experience.

Earlier the medical education department had sent a fourth show-cause notice to the College of Physicians and Surgeons regarding the anomalies found at hospitals offering its courses during an inspection last year.

In an inspection carried out by the Maharashtra Medical Council last year, two institutions offering courses of specialisation by the CPS were found closed while anomalies were detected in 45 institutions. Another 73 institutions refused inspection.

The notice comes as the Bombay high court decides whether a writ petition filed by the CPS will merit a hearing.

The medical education department on last Thursday sent another show-cause notice to the College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS), asking it to explain by April 18 the anomalies found at the hospitals offering its courses during an inspection last year.

The state medical education department (MED) has stalled counselling for nearly 1,100 CPS seats after an inspection by Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) found several institutes running without proper faculty, the requisite number of beds, and a handful shut entirely.

While the CPS moved Bombay high court challenging the notices, the Central government has also set up an eight-member panel to look into matters.