Keeping the interest of students from poor, backward, and tribal community of the state, the Jharkhand government has appealed to the National Medical Commission (NMC) to revoke its ban on medical academic session 2020-21 (MBBS seats) in three newly set up medical colleges which are located in Palamau, Hazaribaghh, and Dumka.

Significantly, these three medical colleges had been set up during the BJP regime led by Raghubar Das. They had been inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, last year, just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. However, NMC has asked these colleges to not take further admission from the current session, on grounds of poor infrastructure and faculty crunch.

This decision has prompted the Opposition party – BJP, to accuse the Soren-led government of being unable to sustain the educational assets created by them.

With the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) result being declared fresh admission for MBBS has begun across the nation for the new session (2020-21). This made chief minister Hemant Soren urge NCM chairperson Suresh Chandra Sharma to reconsider their decision. He has promised to fix all the issues with the three medical colleges by the end of November.

In a letter issued by Hemant’s office, on Thursday, the chief minister termed NMC’s decision to stall admissions as a shocker. In the letter to Sharma, he wrote, “Under the phase 1 of centrally sponsored scheme, Union Health Ministry had sanctioned three new medical colleges in Dumka, Hazaribagh, and Palamau by upgrading the existing district hospitals and approving Rs 340 crores. The state government too had promptly released its share of Rs 392.88 crore. The building work of each of the college was over last year and inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, post which admissions on 100 seats in each college was undertaken in 2019-20. However, NMC has now banned further admissions on the basis of some faculty and infrastructure deficiencies. This has sent a shock wave among aspiring students of this poor, backward and tribal state.”

Acknowledging the gaps flagged by NMC, Hemant maintained that his government is sincerely working towards fixing them but, their efforts suffered roadblocks because of the nationwide lockdown triggered due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “For the recruitment of associate professors and professors, we are facing problems in getting them as eligible and selected candidates aren’t willing to work in a backward state like ours. However, all the gaps highlighted in NMC’s report following an online assessment will be sorted out by November 30,” assured Hemant, while urging NMC to appreciate the state government’s effort despite the existing challenges.

“I request and hope that NMC will revoke its decision to allow admissions to take place in these medical colleges, which fall in districts identified as aspirational by Niti Aayog,” he added.

Notably, while talking to reporters on a different occasion, Hemant had reacted to NMC’s diktat. He had questioned Deoghar’s centrally-funded AIIMS, not having to face such consequences. “By the yardstick of infrastructural gaps as citied by NMC, admissions in AIIMS were not stalled, even when the premier institute is barely 5-10 per cent complete,” highlighted Hemant.