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Vishav Bharti
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 18
Chintpurni Medical College, Pathankot, where everything was found as per norms in the inspection of the National Medical Commission (NMC), is jeopardising the career of MBBS students in the absence of patients, infrastructure and teachers.
The shocking fact came to the fore in an inspection report prepared by Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), Faridkot, following complaints of MBBS students and their parents.
The report prepared by the university has raised questions over the functioning of the NMC as well.
The university had constituted a five-member committee led by Registrar Dr Nirmal Ouseppachan and the committee in its report prepared in February found that on the day of inspection, the hospital showed the record of 100 patients in the OPD. However, only five patients could be seen.
Apart from that, labs were not properly functional and tests were being done in one room in the central lab and only one lab technician was present.
As far as the in-patient area is concerned, only 12 patients were found admitted to the hospital, making the occupancy rate of merely 1.8 per cent for 650 beds against the requirement of 75 per cent occupancy.
The beds were lying vacant in each ward. There was no nursing station in any ward except for one ward.
No other ward in any department was functional or functionable.
Beds lying in the department of medicine were haphazardly placed under a shed. Other major departments like surgery, paediatrics, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, skin and VD and respiratory medicine also showed a similar picture with closed wards, no nursing staff and no patients.
There was no functional obstetrics and gynae ward. Only one room with one bed was designated as labour room and there was no separate areas for clean/septic cases. Just 12 patients were seen on the day of inspection in one general ward.
When it comes to indoor patient care doctors, there was only one doctor for emergency, three ICUs and all general patients. Apart from that, there was no licence for the blood bank and it was not functional.
The report, prepared by the BFUHS, has also raised a question mark on the functioning of the NMC as in its inspection carried out just a few days before the inspection of the university, it found the college fulfilling most of the norms.
“The day and time of the NMC assessment is known to the college well in advance. On the day of the assessment, the college and management had forced its nursing students and the college staff to occupy the beds and free medical camps were organised for the nearby villages. Free food is given to them.”
While the BFUHS report found that there was a gross deficiency of faculty (96 per cent) and the teaching staff (86 per cent).
Most of the wards were not functional and it appeared as if these were never used. Only 12 beds were occupied as against the required minimum occupancy of 485 patients.
Swaran Salaria, chairman of Chintpurni Medical College, said the inspection was carried out on Mahashivratri, which was a holiday. “Everything was found in order in the NMC’s inspection carried out a few days back,” he said.
However, the Registrar of the BFUHS said the inspection was not carried out on Mahashivratri but on a working day. “Even if it was Shivratri, how can a medical college function with just eight patients admitted in it,” the Registrar said.
Pupils being overcharged
The university report found that instead of providing single room, the management had put three students in each room with filthy conditions and the students were being charged more than that stipulated by government
KEY FINDINGS OF FIVE-MEMBER COMMITTEE
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