In a significant move, the centre has taken the unprecedented step of derecognizing two medical colleges run by the prestigious Manipal Group. The University is in trouble, the Union Health ministry has derecognized its medical colleges at Manipal and Mangalore from 2008 onwards because of falling education standards. "There were adverse reports from a central team that visited manipal,'' says Health secretary, Naresh Dayal
The charges raised against Manipal University are nothing short of a scam. Each of the colleges are allowed to admit only 250 students annually. In reality the colleges have been admitting an additional 250 students who get their degrees from the Melacca medical college in Malaysia. That apart, an unspecified number are admitted from a medical college in Antigua, West Indies. There is even a dental college running without permission. In all, the estimates are that the number of students using facilities meant for 250 students is well over 650.
The centre says the colleges can have their recognition back if they make amends. This will cause concern to the MBBS students already admitted. "The recognition is not with retrospective effect. We don’t want to dilute the standard of education,” adds Naresh Dayal. Manipal may be considered one of the better medical colleges in the country but the fact is even as the Government looks the other way, India has one of the maximum number of medical colleges in the world.
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