SHILLONG: The Medical Council of India (MCI) recently derecognised the Post Graduation (PG) course at North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS), thereby jeopardising the future of several doctors.
While the number of patients has gone up substantially, the number of beds and senior doctors remains pathetically low.
The resident doctors are the backbone of the institution, said senior doctors at NEIGRIHMS.
The State Government has never engaged itself with this premier central institute.
MCI recently derecognised PG degrees in MD-Radiodiagnosis, MS-General Surgery and MD-Anaesthesiology awarded by the institute under the affiliation with the North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU).
The major deficiencies pointed out in the PG committee meeting of MCI were recruitment rules followed by NEIGRIHMS which were totally different from those suggested by MCI.
The plight of the institute was that it was established on the lines of AIIMS, Delhi, and PGIMER, Chandigarh, but failed to achieve full autonomy and is still under the purview of MCI.
The permitted seats in the various departments have been discontinued from this academic year leading to acute shortage of resident doctors, thereby hampering the delivery of quality medical services and adding to the misery of the people of the region.
NEIGRIHMS director D.M Thappa was not available for comments.
While in the rest of the country there has been a recent increase in the number of PG seats by 4,000 by the Health Ministry, NEIGRIHMS has failed to even retain its existing seats.
The number of patients catered by NEIGRIHMS is increasing exponentially with each passing day but sadly the number of residents, providing healthcare services, is reducing each year. What is worse is that the future of the resident doctors of the concerned departments is at stake as following non-recognition they are not eligible for further super specialisation or senior residency programmes, thereby leading to unemployment.
It is worth mentioning that these residents got admission through highly competitive entrance exams and in accordance with law.
A senior doctor who did not wish to be named said, “These young doctors devote long working hours of their lives in order to provide quality medical services to the ever increasing patient. Hence non-recognition of the PG degrees is gross injustice to the Residents.”
As can be expected, the MCI axe has demoralised the resident doctors in the institute. If they leave NEIGRIHMS will suffer permanent damage.
NEIGRIHMS has also suffered from poor management since directors posted here have a limited commitment. As a result there is administrative lethargy and neglect and a lackadaisical attitude towards solving these burning issues.
“The administration is a mere spectator leading to the current pitiable state of the institute and its residents. For instance, the Head of the Institute was absent during most of the MCI inspections. The administration seemed to be contented with having won the “Kaya-kalp” award twice, worth crores of rupees,” said a senior doctor.
At this rate NEIGRIHMS is set to slide downhill. The Governing Board has not met in a long time because of the absence of the director. The new director has just taken over. Staff and doctors have voiced concern that if the authorities do not address these issues, which have been pending for over a year now, then the downfall of NEIGRIHMS is imminent.
Many have pointed to the complete apathy of the Meghalaya Government to engage with the burning issues at the institute and to knock at the doors of Delhi to remedy the lapses.
