July 9: Following the directives of the Medical Council of India (MCI), the Sena-BJP government today stopped admissions to the first MBBS course run by Terna Medical College, Navi Mumbai, Chudaman Patil Medical College, Dhule, and reduced the seats of S K Sommaiya Medical College, Mumbai and N K P Salve Medical College, Nagpur, citing poor medical and clinical facilities. The seats of Somaiyya and NKP Salve Medical Colleges have been reduced from 100 to 50 each.

Barring Somaiyya, all the three other colleges are directly controlled by senior Congress leaders. While former State Home Minister Padamsinh Patil directly controls the Terna Medical College, former Irrigation Minister Rohidas Patil and Pradesh Congress Committee President Ranjeet Deshmukh are at the helm of affairs at the Dhule and N K P Salve Medical Colleges.

``Ignoring political pressure, particularly from senior Congress leaders, the Sena-BJP government has taken a tough decision. The official order will be communicated to the respective institutions within a day or two,'' a senior official told Express Newsline.

The MCI took this decision at its executive committee meeting held at Darjeeling in the second week of June. Admissions to the Terna Medical college were stopped as its clinical and medical facilities were found to be poor.

This decision was also backed by the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC), which resolved in its meeting that permanent registration should not be granted to Terna students. Terna, along with the other colleges, was established five years ago after the state government decided to permit new medical colleges on a no-grant basis.

Terna's case showed up many glaring irregularities: the college library was inadequate for 100 students, the age of the heads of departments of anatomy and forensic medicine was beyond 65 years, and the distance between the college and hospital was so wide that students could barely cope with travelling and attending college and clinical meetings.

A senior Maharashtra Medical Council member felt that the alliance government should take a firm decision about erring medical colleges.

``Those medical colleges which were not up to the mark and had no chances of improvement should be closed. "The students of these colleges should be adjusted in nearby government medical colleges,'' he asserted.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.