34 med PG students to lose seats

NAGPUR: The directorate of medical education and research (DMER) has issued an order to cancel the post graduate (PG) admissions of all students admitted in the first round if they have failed to submit their internship completion certificate before April 20.
This order will lead to cancellation of admissions of 34 students of Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), who got admissions at various colleges in the state or across the country.It includes one student from GMCH who got admission in the same college.
This historic step is expected to put an end to the alleged practice of GMCH issuing internship completion certificates to all students (200 each year) for past three or more years (2012, 2013, and 2014) to safeguard the image of the college and save their skin and avoid any action against the college or students.
Though the order is basically meant for Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) Nagpur, the competent authority and joint director of DMER (dental) Dr Mansingh Pawar, who issued the order late on Monday evening told TOI that it is a common and routine order for all 14 medical colleges issued every year.
“I have not done anything extraordinary. It is all as per the Medical Council of India (MCI) norms, which say that the certificates should be submitted by March 31 every year. It is an administrative decision taken after consent of the DMER and the medical education and drugs department officials,” said Dr Pawar.
The letter reads that as per DMER and the PGM-CET 2015 brochure (8.13.3) those who have not completed their internships by March 31 and not submitted the certificates from the college till April 21, their PG admissions should be cancelled immediately and the colleges should inform about the action to the DMER by fax or e-mail immediately.
“If the respective college doesn’t respond in time then the related official would be responsible for it and the college will be held equally responsible,” reads the letter.
DMER director Dr Pravin Shingare admitted that the letter was part of routine procedure but it will surely set an example for future interns. “The only exception this year is that the for the first time any dean (GMCH dean) requested DMER to allow the college to issue certificates by April 20 instead of March 31, which we had agreed to and hence cancellation of any PG admissions is historical. But we had also clarified that the certificate should be issued in back date only and should not be dated April 20,” said Dr Shingare.
On Wednesday, a group of 25-30 interns met GMCH dean Dr A Niswade during the college council meeting. The dean told them to put their grievance before the department heads present there, who told them that they couldn’t issue the certificates if the students hadn’t completed their 365 days of training in 20 subjects.
The GMCH interns who had just been following the three-year pattern were so casual in their approach that despite the dean allowing them an extension in internship till June they had still not begun attending the training, assuming that like earlier two batches they too will be issued the certificates by the internship coordinator from the PSM department. “This happens every where. We are unnecessarily being targeted,” said a few students.