The lack of adequate medical institutions that provide quality and affordable education to aspiring students has forced them to leave their home country and study abroad and this reality has become a concern due to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Thousands of Indian medical students have been brought back and lost their seats in colleges, the Delhi Supreme Court has said. The Supreme Court’s comment came when it authorized more seats in postgraduate and undergraduate courses at Santosh Medical College, an institution run and administered by Santosh Trust, which was formally known as the Maharaji Educational Trust.
I also cannot lose sight of the fact that due to the lack of enough medical institutions that provide quality, affordable education to meet the needs of the aspiring students, they are often forced to make the choice to leave their home countries and pursue their studies abroad. This reality has become especially worrisome at a time when the conflict between Ukraine and Russia has resulted in the rescue and return of several thousand Indian medical students who had gone to study in the now war-torn Ukraine. have also lost their seats in medical colleges, Judge Rekha Palli said in a 41-page verdict passed Tuesday.
The court said that no doubt the authorities could not be asked to lower the standards prescribed by the regulations, but at the same time, in a situation like the current one, when it is found that an institute as the petitioner, which has been operating for more than 20 years, , has not lacked infrastructure and also remedied the shortcomings identified in the first inspections as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it would also be against the public interest to deny the petitioner permission to increase the seats . At a time when the country’s medical profession to population ratio is abominably low, an increase in the number of PG and UG seats would certainly contribute to the larger goal of strengthening the country’s medical infrastructure, the said. the court.
The court overturned two orders of the National Medical Commission (NMC), represented by lawyer T Singhdev, and ordered it and other authorities to allow the institute to increase the seats from 4 to 7 in MS (Obstetrics and Gynecology) from 3 to 7 in MS (Orthopaedics), and from 100-150 in the MBBS course. The court heard a petition from the trust, which manages and operates a group of medical, dental, allied health and para-dental colleges/institutions in the National Capital Region, including the petitioner, a medical education institution offering MBBS courses. and postgraduate courses.
The petition contests NMC’s disapproval letters rejecting the petitioners’ request for permission to increase the number of seats in the Institute for Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) and postgraduate courses MS (Obstetrics and Gynaecology). and MS (Orthopedics). It also challenged another order from the authorities ordering an interim inspection of the college to continue the existing recognition of 100 MBBS seats.
While the court overturns the two injunctions, the court said that these instructions are only given in light of these particular facts and taking into account that the petitioner institute has already missed the first two consultation rounds and any further delay at this point could even prevent them from participating in the upcoming consultation rounds Mop-Up and Online Stray Vacancies. It granted permission to the college to participate in the remaining advisory rounds with the elevated seats without further inspections.
The fact remains that the petitioner institute is an institution that has produced a significant number of doctors for the country over the past 28 years, which are still unable to fulfill the aspirations of the younger generation to pursue medical studies. It is the defendants’ own case that the submitting institute has a valid authorization to admit students not only against 100 seats in MBBS, but also in various PG courses, the court finds. The court upheld the petitioners’ argument that the complaints lodged against her had yet to be verified by the authorities and this cannot constitute grounds to believe that any illegality has been committed by the college or the Trust, or to seek permission for correction. refuse number of seats despite the availability of the necessary infrastructure.
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