MCI, SC panel advises students not to enroll in 4 institutes over degree doubts

The Medical Council of India (MCI) and the Supreme Court-appointed Oversight Committee has asked students not to enroll for post graduate courses in modern medicine from Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital and Medical Research Institute, Bhubaneswar-based AMRI Hospital, National Institute for Education and Research, Delhi, and Indira Gandhi National Open University (Ignou), Delhi.

Kokilaben started its master’s programme in collaboration with George Washington University Medical Centre in 2012. The MCI asked Ignou not to award post graduate diploma in HIV medicine, health management, maternal and child health and geriatric medicine.

“Such qualifications are non-recognised and the holders are not entitled to seek registration of additional qualification with the concerned medical council,” says a public notice dated September 28, 2016, which the MCI put on its website on Tuesday.

“We have been running these courses for the past 20 years and I am surprised at the MCI’s decision. We will take it to the academic council, which is our supreme body, and also inform the visitor, the President of India,” Ravinder Kumar, Ignou’s vice-chancellor said.

“The council had asked for an explanation from Kokilaben Hospital and it said that it is offering a certificate course which doesn’t require the central government’s approval but the explanation failed to convince the committee,” said a member of MCI’s PG committee.

HT had learnt through an RTI application in April that all these courses were under MCI’s lens from December 2015.

However, the decision has put hundreds of students in a dilemma.

A recent Ignou PG diploma passout said, “Why was the council quiet when these courses were launched and ran for several years? The decision will not serve any purpose except lead to a barrage of petitions in various courts.” He also urged the council to protect students’ interest by validating the courses for the previous and existing batches.