2 Jun 2023 • Around 40 medical colleges across the country have lost recognition over the past two months allegedly for not following standards set by the National Medical Commission (NMC), official sources said. The colleges were not found to be complying with the set norms and several lapses related to CCTV cameras, Aadhaar-linked biometric attendance procedures and faculty rolls were found during inspections carried out by the Commission, an official source said.

About 100 more medical colleges in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Assam, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry and West Bengal may also face similar action, they said on Tuesday. There is an increase of 69 per cent in the medical colleges from 387 before 2014 to 654 as of now, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar had told the Rajya Sabha in February.

Reacting to the derecognition of medical colleges, experts from the medical field said the NMC is largely relying on the Aadhaar-enabled biometric attendance system for which it considers only the faculty which are on duty during daytime from 8 am to 2 pm.

“But the working hours of doctors are not fixed. They have to work in emergency and at night shifts also. So the NMC’s rigidity with the working hours has created this issue. Such micro management of medical colleges is not practical and the NMC needs to be flexible to such issues,” an expert said.

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