Nod to PIMS to fill 150 MBBS seats

JALANDHAR: The Centre has granted permission to the Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences PIMS for admission to the 201516 MBBS batch 150 seats of the institute

Updated At : 06:38 AM Jun 17, 2015 IST

<p>Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences, Jalandhar. A Tribune Photograph</p>

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 16

The Centre has granted permission to the Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) for admission to the 2015-16 MBBS batch (150 seats) of the institute.

The Centre has also approved 50 additional seats to medical colleges at Patiala and Faridkot.

While earlier this year, the permissions for admission to PIMS, Jalandhar, as well as Chintpurni Medical College and Hospital, Pathankot, for the MBBS 2015-16 batch had been denied by the Medical Council of India, a letter by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has granted approval to PIMS to go ahead with the admissions in this batch.

The ministry, on approval from MCI, has also increased the intake of 50 students at the Government Medical College, Patiala, and Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital, Faridkot, taking the total of these colleges, to 200 and 100 seats, respectively.

The intake of 50 students had also been approved at the Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Amritsar. Hence, 150 MBBS seats have been added to the medical colleges of the state.

An MCI delegation had first conducted a visit to the institute in December 2014 and then, a surprise check in April this year.

During the December checks, some vital deficiencies had been found which the institute had been asked to remove. After the April visit of the MCI delegation, admissions to the new batch had been denied.

However, the executive committee of the Medical Council of India, on consideration of the compliance verification assessment report on April 7, along with the previous assessment report (December 5-6, 2014) decided to recommend to the central government to renew the permission for admission to the fifth batch.

Deficiencies found in December included inadequate faculty, lack of hostels and examination hall (auditorium).

PIMS CEO Kanwaljit Singh, while talking to The Tribune, said, "We have received the letter from the ministry today. Although we had indications that the MCI teams found PIMS' compliance satisfactory in April, the letter has indeed brought both relief and happiness because apprehensions were certainly there among some people.

"The MCI teams had asked us to remove some shortcomings -- including the building of an examination hall -- following the December visit, which we promptly complied with. Additionally, various qualitative upgrades are already under way at PIMS. We have introduced 2-3 super specialties including gastroenterology and nephrology. We are also starting paramedical courses at the medical college this year and, by next year, nursing and post-graduate courses shall also be started."

Chintpurni college denied permission

Faridkot: The MCI has recommended the Centre not to give permission for holding admissions for fifth batch of 150 seats to Chintpurni Medical College & Hospital (CMCH), Gurdaspur.

The MCI’s executive committee noted that no physical verification of any faculty in the college was allowed and no senior residents were available for physical verification. The committee, in its report, alleged the lecture theatre and ICUs were not shown to the assessors who visited the college, thus the deficiencies could not be verified. No patient was seen in OPD or in any ward.

Dr NS Sharma, Principal, said the college management had already approached the High Court and they were hopeful of getting permission to admit students in the first week of June.