Dozens of nursing colleges in Madhya Pradesh ran with no students, teachers or infrastructure, CBI finds

The CBI then prepared a list of 364 colleges affiliated with the state-run Madhya Pradesh Medical Science University, and submitted a compliance report on 25 colleges on April 28 last year. After perusing the report, the court said it was a “grave situation that even such colleges have been given affiliation which do not conform to the requirement of rules”.

The report contained investigation details pertaining to 25 colleges, including 15 in Bhopal, eight in Gwalior, and one each in Bhind and Vidisha districts.

As per Indian Nursing Council standards, nursing colleges should have an area of at least 23,000 sq ft, and according to the Madhya Pradesh Nurses Registration Council (MPNRC) stipulations, it should be at least 17,000 sq ft. Of the colleges inspected by the CBI in Bhopal, only one qualified either of the conditions. Eight of those colleges were found to have been closed, and three were found to have had their licence revoked.

Of the list of closed colleges, Krisha Devi College of Nursing located at a rented premises of 3,020 sq ft had been closed since it did not have permission to operate in “academic session 2021-22″. However, “29 students were admitted in the college who are still studying in the college in second year” and a principal and two faculty members were found at the spot even though “no facilities were available”, the report said.

Jai Hind College, built over an area of 15,000 sq ft, had five labs and one library, which was only 1,375 sq ft in area as against the prescribed area of 2,300 sq ft. It did not have regular staff or students, toilet facilities, fire safety features, or even a parent hospital.
Another such institute, 3M College of Nursing, was located inside a residential area and had been closed since 2020-21. It did not have any students or staff, laboratories, library or any equipment, the CBI report noted. It only had two classrooms.

The 7,000 sq ft SMA Nursing College, also located in a residential area, has not only been closed down, but a school has come up in its place. It has 11 classrooms ranging in size from 226 to 450 sq ft. There were no labs, library, or playground, and it had inadequate toilet facilities. Similarly, JP Nursing College was also closed and its premises taken over by a bank.

At the colleges still running, there was a dearth of basic infrastructure, the CBI report states. ICON College of Nursing, located in a 2,050 sq ft area, had “no transportation facility for students”, five “poorly equipped” labs measuring 100-300 sq ft, and “no classrooms”, according to the report.

“Three dysfunctional computers were found. Toilet facility was insufficient and no playground was found. There is one small room in which both the principal and vice-principal sit. No record found for clinical experience of the students,” the report stated. Lake City College of Nursing was classified as extremely deficient as “no building of the college could be found, and hence no facilities/infrastructure are available”.

The investigation into the nursing colleges in Madhya Pradesh came after two writ petitions were filed in Gwalior and one in Jabalpur regarding the condition of these institutions. All three petitions are currently being heard in Jabalpur.

Advocate Vishal Baghel, president of the Law Students Association, had filed a public interest litigation before the Jabalpur Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in January 2022, saying that 55 nursing colleges started in the year 2020-2021 in tribal areas in Madhya Pradesh were being run fraudulently without essential infrastructure. Following this, the court ordered an investigation into alleged irregularities into all nursing colleges in the state.

According to the report, In Gwalior, three nursing colleges were closed after the MPNRC did not renew their permissions. The permission given to the College of Nursing Sciences and Research had been revoked due to the lack of a parent hospital. The college, however, still has a staff of three faculty, including a principal. It had no hostel facility, but had classrooms of sufficient area. One college was closed due to financial constraints brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Of the nursing colleges in Gwalior still running, Ayush College of Nursing had four classrooms, six labs, and a principal’s office. It did have a parent hospital which was “equipped but not found running” and no hostel, the report states.

Jai Maa Bhagwati Nursing College was found housed in an old building with no students, teaching staff, transport facility, classrooms, labs, staff room or toilet facility.

BM School of Nursing in Vidisha, located in a 8,031 sq ft area, offered four courses, but its six classrooms had “poor ventilation and lighting” and no working computer. It had a poorly maintained library, no clinical facility for the students, and insufficient toilet facilities, the report said, adding that one room on the ground floor was even found rented to a private teacher.

The college in Bhind had closed after “only five students took permission” and “no student turned up for the second year”.