42% medicos fail final exam, IGIMS stakeholder questions system

A member of the supreme administrative and policy making body of the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS), an autonomous medical college, has questioned the teaching prowess of its faculty members as also its examination system after 40 of its 96 students flunked the recent MBBS final examination.

Dr Sunil Kumar Singh, a member of the institute’s board of governors (BoG) and also the state spokesperson of the ruling JD(U), has demanded that the responsibility of conducting examination be vested with some other university.

In his February 8 letter to health minister Mangal Pandey, also the BoG chairman of the IGIMS, Dr Singh cast aspersions on the capability of its teachers or their competence to conduct fair examination.

He suggested that like other medical colleges in Bihar, the responsibility to conduct examination be given to some other university. He even cited the example of the Aryabhatta Knowledge University (AKU), which conducts examination of most medical colleges in Bihar, including the Patna Medical College Hospital.

Dr Singh, who is also the vice-president of the Indian Medical Association’s Bihar chapter, and secretary of the Bihar Ophthalmological Society, drew reference to the controversy surrounding question paper leak in the IGIMS due to which its M.Ch (Magister Chirurgiae, an advanced qualification in surgery) exam had to be cancelled some years back.

“Recently, a nursing student committed suicide on charges that the authorities deliberately failed her,” Dr Singh added.

IGIMS director, Dr N R Biswas, refused to be drawn into the controversy.

“Ours is an autonomous institute and we have a foolproof system of conducting examination. I have constituted a committee to look into the matter. Based on its recommendations, we will take a call on February 15,” he said.

IGIMS principal Dr Ranjit Guha said, “We are looking into the demands of the students and are doing retotalling. We are checking answersheets for evaluation mistakes, if any, of students who have failed. Our examination mechanism is foolproof, with externals setting question papers, answer sheets being coded before being sent to external examiners.”

IGIMS dean of academics, Dr SK Shahi, also did not find anything wrong either with institute’s teaching or examination system. Dr Shahi did not mince his words when he said, “The result of a particular batch depends on the students. Those who do not study will fail. We cannot lower our standard for those who do not study.”

This is the first time in the annals of the IGIMS medical college, established in 2011, that so many students have failed the final examination.  Last year, too, 13 medicos had flunked.

Of the 56 medicos who passed this year, 16 were awarded up to 5 grace marks, as allowed by regulator the Medical Council of India.