Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

Recognition for 5 PG medical courses after 25 years

By Feroze Ahmed

CHENNAI MAY 20. Twentyfive years after they were started, five postgraduate programmes in the Thanjavur Government Medical College were granted recognition yesterday by the Medical Council of India. That still leaves another 60 medical courses and at least one government medical college in the State without recognition.

The five programmes, which got recognition, were started in 1978 by the Bharathidasan University in Thanjavur and brought under the control of the Tamilnadu MGR Medical University in 1987, Health department officials said.

Successive governments failed or did not bother to achieve MCI recognition for these and 60 other State-run postgraduate programmes, without which students completing the courses cannot officially practise as specialists.

Besides, the Tiruchi and Tuticorin medical colleges were still awaiting final recognition. Officials said the Government had arranged for students graduating from these institutions to get registered with the Tamil Nadu Medical Council so that they could practise as doctors in the State.

The MCI grants recognition to colleges and courses throughout the country to ensure standards.

The courses which got recognition yesterday are: Diploma in Psychiatric Medicine, Diploma in Otto Laryngology, MD in Paediatric Medicine and Diploma in Child Health, MD in General Medicine and MS in General Surgery.

The Director of Medical Education, C.Ravindranath, said the Government was making efforts at achieving recognition within a year for the other 60 postgraduate programmes.

The State was trying to get final MCI recognition for the Tiruchi College, the Health Minister, S.Semmalai, said. The first batch of students in this college has already graduated.

The DME said MCI inspection of the Tiruchi and Tuticorin colleges was completed and a final approval was expected before admissions.

One of the demands of the medical college students, protesting against new private medical colleges, was that the government take immediate steps to get recognition for the several unrecognised postgraduate programmes in government medical colleges, and for the institutions themselves.

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