Daltonganj: Medinirai Medical College Hospital Under NMC Scrutiny

The Medinirai Medical College Hospital (MMCH), Daltonganj has now come under the National Medical Commission's (NMC) scanner as the licence of its blood bank expired on September 30, 2020. Directing the institute to renew the licence by July 10, the Apex Medical Education Regulatory Body has warned to slap a Rs 6 Lakh penalty on the institute for non-compliance.

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), operative under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, issues this licence through the State unit.

Also Read: Medical Colleges Under Tight Scrutiny of National Medical Commission

As per the latest media report by the Times of India, during its meeting with the MMCH Principal Dr. Kamender Prasad on May 10, NMC stressed the importance of updating the blood bank's license. Responding to this, Dr. Prasad informed the Commission that the college was pursuing the matter with the drug inspector of Palamu Chandan Kachchap.

Meanwhile, Chandan said the drug inspector for the east zone in Kolkata, Ashutosh Kumar inspected the blood bank on April 3. He added that the delay in renewing the licence for the blood bank since 2020 was due to certain deficiencies, such as the absence of an Eliza machine and a non-functional temperature graph device in the blood bank’s fridge.

Commenting on the matter, a senior official at the blood bank, Anwar Alam informed that an Eliza machine was purchased and two fridges with advanced temperature graph devices have been installed.

NMC Scrutiny and Action

The NMC had earlier reported that it had been in talks with the medical colleges across the country on a daily basis to ensure that the medical colleges have been complying with the requirements regarding faculty numbers, biometric attendance, clinical materials, and other rules. The process is ongoing and NMC has already reached out to the administrators of around half of the medical colleges.

Earlier, medical colleges were facing physical inspections, where a team of assessors would go and visit medical colleges and assess those facilities. This process was widely criticized and accused of being full of bribery and corruption. It was alleged that the assessor would take bribes and approve medical colleges. However, under the new system, the Apex Medical Regulator is slowly moving online in terms of inspection of medical colleges as well as overseeing the fulfilment of requirements. Although online, with features like AEBAS and biometric attendance system, it is being difficult for medical colleges to engage ghost faculties.

Also Read: First time: NMC slaps fine on 3 TN medical colleges for Faculty, Clinical Material Deficiencies

Earlier this month, for the first time, taking note of deficiencies in faculty and clinical material, NMC imposed fines on medical colleges for violating the Maintenance of Standards of Medical Education Regulations, 2023 (MSMER) rules. The Commission slapped a fine of up to Rs 3 lakh on government medical colleges in Tamil Nadu, including the colleges in Dharmapuri, Ramanathapuram, and Nagapattinam. Apart from these colleges, the Commission also issued show-cause notices to many other colleges for deficiencies in Aadhaar-based biometric attendance.

Recently, taking cognisance of a critical faculty shortage and lack of essential resources, the Commission took strict action against the government medical colleges in Chhattisgarh. NMC slapped a penalty of Rs 1 crore on Kanker Medical College, Rs 4 lakh fine on Durg Medical College, and Rs 3 lakh fine each in the medical colleges located at Bilaspur, Ambikapur, Mahasamund, and Jagdalpur. Along with this, Mahasamund, Kanker, and Raigarh medical colleges have also been served with show-cause notices over the shortage of faculty.

Also Read: NMC crackdown on Chhattisgarh Medical Colleges over faculty shortage, lack of essential resources