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This is an archive article published on June 17, 2024
Not one graduate in 13 years from this medical college in Pathankot
Subpar infrastructure, performance: White Medical College is one of the two colleges in country that have been told by courts to move out full MBBS batches.
6 min read
The 150-seat private medical college was set up in 2011. (Express photo by Anonna Dutt)General wards under lock and key, bed occupancy of 13% as opposed to the minimum mandated 60%, no blood bank, zero surgeries and zero deliveries. This is White Medical College, a 150-seat, private medical college in Pathankot city of Punjab that has been plagued by lack of infrastructure and shortage of patients and faculty members since it was set up in 2011. In fact, no batch has graduated from the college – formerly known as Chintpurni Medical College – in its 13 years.
Earlier this year, following the directions of the Punjab & Haryana High Court, the National Medical Commission (NMC), the country’s apex medical education regulator, asked for all the students to be moved out of the college. The college is only one of two colleges in the country — the other being Karnataka’s G R Medical College — that have been directed by courts to move entire batches of MBBS students given their subpar infrastructure and performance on a range of parameters. While the Chintpurni college has challenged the court’s order in the High Court, all the students of the Karnataka college have been moved out to other colleges in the state.
Documents accessed by The Indian Express show the Chintpurni college is a repeat offender.
In 2017, too, three batches of students (those admitted in 2011, 2014 and 2016) had moved court and got themselves shifted to other colleges.
In August last year, both the Chintpurni college and the Karnataka college were among nine medical colleges that were barred by the NMC from taking in students for the 2023-24 batch, mainly because the faculty couldn’t meet the attendance requirement on the NMC portal. While the other colleges were able to rectify the deficiencies and were allowed to accept students after appeals, the Chintpurni and Karnataka colleges failed to do so.
In fact, the NMC has in the past, too, barred the college from taking in fresh admissions. Since its inception in 2011, the college has been allowed to take only five fresh batches – in 2011, 2014, 2016, 2021, and 2022.
The National Medical Commission has in the past, too, barred the college from taking in fresh admissions
Given the 2017 exits from the college and the bar on fresh admissions, only two batches (those admitted in 2021 and 2022) are currently on campus. It’s these students who have now moved court asking that they be moved out of the college.
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Last year, the NMC had on the orders of the Punjab & Haryana High Court set up a committee – with representatives from the NMC, the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences to which the Chintpurni college is affiliated, and the Department of Medical Education of Punjab – to look into the deficiencies of the Chintpurni college. The committee had proposed the shutting down of the institute.
Questions sent to the NMC by The Indian Express went unanswered. On why the college wasn’t shut down, Dr Rajeev Sood, vice chancellor of Baba Fardi University of Health Sciences, said it was not possible for the Punjab government to withdraw the “essentiality certificate” for the college — essentiality certificate is an undertaking by the state government given to the NMC stating that there is a need for a medical college in a particular area. “The certificate cannot be withdrawn because this area needs a medical college. And since Chintpurni is the only college that has come up here, they hold the certificate,” he said.
Officials from Punjab’s Department of Medical Education refused to comment on the status of the college, saying the case was sub-judice.
The college
Earlier this month, The Indian Express visited the hospital, located on the outskirts of Pathankot city, and found there were not more than 50 persons in the seven-odd outpatient clinics on the ground floor of the hospital during the three hours that the correspondent spent on campus.
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‘Deficiency in patient load’ at the hospital was among the shortcomings the NMC highlighted during its last inspection in May 2023, when 150 patients attended the outpatient clinics. NMC norms state that a 150-bed medical college hospital in its third year of inception must see at least 750 patients a day.
During the NMC inspection, the assessors found the bed occupancy to be a mere 12.6% while NMC norms stipulate that at least 60% of the beds be occupied at all times.
In 2017, three batches of students had moved court and got themselves shifted to other colleges
The May 2023 inspection also found there were zero surgeries and zero deliveries.The inspections also noted that the college did not have the licence for a blood bank. The inspection also found a shortage of over 54% in faculty and 64% in resident doctors. An assessment of online attendance by the NMC later found a 96.9% shortage in faculty and 100% in resident doctors.
Swaran Salaria, chairperson of the college,said: “In the 75 years of independence, no one has been able to open a medical college here. This is the only medical college in a 100-km radius. Yes, there have been deficiencies in the past, but the administration changed in 2017. Since then we have been working hard to rectify all deficiencies.”A second-year student said: “Compared to our peers in other colleges, we have learnt nothing. We cannot even do basic things like first aid, give an injection, set up an IV, or perform CPR.”Dr Sood of Baba Fardi University of Health Sciences said, “After the joint committee and the court directed that the students be moved to other colleges, we were in the process of looking for seats for them. However, the college got a stay order in court. Now, it is for the court to decide what can be done.”
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