An Ayurveda college sans basic facilities

CHENNAI, MAY 26: They study anatomy but have seen no cadaver. They study medicine but have only two kalvams' stone and pestle for 30 s...

CHENNAI, MAY 26: They study anatomy but have seen no cadaver. They study medicine but have only two kalvams8217; stone and pestle for 30 students. They need to study medicinal plants but have a tiny pavement-size patch for a herbarium holding less than 20 plants. Ask them what is pizhichal8217; Ayurvedic for massage with medicated oils and they nod their head in bewilderment. These are the students who will in a few years8217; time, prescribe ayurvedic medicines for innocent patients once they get out of their college8217;.

That is nonagenarian 8212; The Venkataramana Ayurveda College 8212; with a hoary past and ready to hit a century in 2005 AD. The institution that claims to have produced renowned Ayurvedacharyas alias Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery BAMS students, is in the doldrums lacking basic equipment, facilities, qualified faculty or anything fundamental for a college meant to train doctors.

Worried students remark that their faculty comprises of 13 persons with a Bachelor8217;s degree and just threeM.Ds. Interestingly, the principal in-charge H R Vijaya Seshadri is not the principal because she also holds just a Bachelor8217;s degree.

This and many other aspects are totally not in keeping with the minimum standards prescribed by the Central Council of Indian Medicine CCIM that the institution should have 13 professors, there is one. Not to mention Readers, the recommendation is 16 where there are just two and one Senior Lecturer against a requirement of 30 and 13 Lecturers no Post-graduates against a prescribed 36.

8220;Here, someone who has just studied BAMS and did not even finish internship is the hot favourite for lecturer8217;s job,8221; remarks a former lecturer citing low pay as a reason. University scales of pay. Well, they have not heard of it with even well experienced doctors earning a paltry sum of around Rs 7,000. Needless to say that even without a basic faculty requirement, the other staff requirements are barely fulfilled.

The student trouble in the college began to foment with the demandto hold a freshers party which was denied under the guise that it would promote 8220;ragging8221;. When students attempted to break away from tradition and hold a party this year, 58 of them were suspended and later the order was revoked with an apology. Forbidding them to hold a welcome party was a means of preventing them from getting together to discuss the bountiful problems the institution was facing, remarked a student.

As for the problems, the students, 30 in each of the five years come through the Tamil Nadu Professional Courses Entrance Examination TNPCEE and pay through their nose for the merit, payment and NRI quota seats. And the amount runs to lakhs of rupees.

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The 90-odd students of the first four years have now got together to demand that the college provide the facilities recommended by the CCIM. They state that only three microscopes are available, one thermometer and a BP apparatus which is mainly at the Out Patient OP ward. There is no exclusive lab attendant. The Rasa Sasthra Lab is alsoused for preparation of medicines for the college pharmacy and is unclean.