SMC Issue: Opposition Walks Out From The Assembly Demanding JPC Probe
- By Thetripurapost Desk, Agartala
- Sep 06, 2024
- 369
The opposition in the assembly session on the Shantiniketan Medical College issue, accused the state government of various irregularities without the knowledge of the Chief Minister.
The opposition proposed that a joint committee of legislators should be formed to investigate all the irregularities. But, that proposal did not get importance. Therefore, at the beginning of the second half of the session, the opposition raised the demand for the formation of that committee. Finally they walked out of the session. The Assembly session became heated for some time in that incident.
On Friday in the Assembly, Congress MLA Sudip Roy Burman raised an interesting notice regarding the state government's permission to use Santiniketan Medical College as a teaching hospital. In response to the notice, the Chief Minister said that the Government of India is encouraging the establishment of medical colleges in the private sector due to the restrictions on setting up medical colleges by the state governments. For which existing government hospitals are allowed to be used as teaching hospitals.
He said that Section 2(5) of the Medical College Establishment Rules, 1999 and the National Medical Commission's 2023 Guidelines for Establishment of New Medical Institutions, Introduction of New Courses and Increase in Seats stated that the proper government of any person/organization/trust/association/organization. Government hospitals may be permitted to use them as teaching hospitals through agreement with Under this rule, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India has sanctioned the establishment of 157 new medical colleges in various parts of the country, including 27 medical colleges in Uttar Pradesh.
He gave examples of some private medical colleges where government hospitals have been used for teaching, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore is using a part of Kilpok Government Hospital. Sindhudurg is using a section of Prasarak Mandal Medical College, Maharashtra Sindhudurg Government Hospital. J.J.M. Medical College, Chigateri General Hospital, Davangere and Dr. DY Patil Medical College, Pimpri, have entered into MoU with Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital, Pune. He also added that Shantiniketan Medical College, Bolpur, West Bengal has entered into an agreement with Bolpur Sub-Divisional Hospital. The Kerala state government has allowed students from private medical colleges to visit postmortems at government medical colleges. Government land has been given at subsidized cost to ILS Hospital in Agartala to provide private healthcare facilities.
He clarifies from examples that it is a common practice to use government hospitals for teaching and training purposes. In previous years Tripura Government in 2006 to set up Tripura Medical College (TMC) Br. B.R. Ambedkar Memorial Hospital (then District Hospital) was allowed by the Global Educational Trust to be used as a teaching hospital. Later, the Tripura government allowed TMC students to use the AGMC morgue complex for post-mortem observation and other medico-legal work. Also, the state government allows private pharmacy, nursing and paramedical colleges to use the facilities of government hospitals (eg AGMC, Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital, District Hospital) as teaching hospitals for training students, subject to payment of a fixed “User Development Fee” which is set by the government. prescribed
According to him, some of the private institutions in Tripura are Tripura Institute of Paramedical Sciences, Bharat Pharmaceutical Technology, Bhavans Tripura College of Science and Technology Institute of Nursing Sciences, Tripura Sundari College of Nursing, North East Institute of Nursing Sciences and ILS Nursing Institute these private colleges are in Tripura. Using the facilities of various government hospitals for teaching and training purposes.
Now, the Chief Minister said, the 'Independent Trust' which is registered under Additional Register of Assurances-3, Kolkata and has experience of running a medical college in Bolpur, West Bengal. They submitted an application to the Director of Medical Education, Tripura on March 12, seeking permission to use part of the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital as a Rural Health Training Center and an Urban Health Training Center for teaching and training. The trust mentioned that it has purchased 20.40 acres of land in Madhuban area of Ranirkhamar in West Tripura where it plans to start a medical college called 'Tripura Santiniketan Medical College'.
The chief minister claimed that a team of senior officers visited the proposed site of Tripura Santiniketan Medical College at Ranirkhamar, Madhuban, Agartala on March 13 and found that the independent trust had already started construction of the medical college, hostel and their own 500-bed hospital which would be completed within the next one year. It is expected that They plan to complete a 1,000-bed multispecialty hospital within the next five years. Recently they started Out Department Services (OPD) at Tripura Santiniketan Medical College (TSMC) from August 2024.
He said the health department has verified all the documents related to the registration of the independent trust and the eligibility of setting up a medical college as per the standards of the National Medical Commission and has also taken the opinion of the law department. After inspecting the facilities of the proposed Tripura Shashiniketan Medical College and Teaching Hospital on June 29, the National Medical Commission has given 'permission' to admit 150 MBBS seats from the academic year 2024-25. Tripura University (a Central University) has given approval to Tripura Shantiniketan Medical College to start the MBBS admission process from the academic year 2024-25.
According to his claim, the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Tripura, considered the application of the independent trust as per the policy of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India and issued the 'Certificate of Necessity' prescribed by the National Medical Commission to the independent trust on June 27 subject to the following conditions. As per the terms, Tripura Santiniketan Medical College will only use part of the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital for teaching purposes till the construction of their own hospital is completed. The independent trust will have to bear the cost of examination hall, extra beds and any necessary expenses. The independent trust has to pay a usage fee of Rs 10,000 per student per year to the Government of Tripura. They will deposit a bank guarantee of Rs 2 crore for any loss while using a part of IGM Hospital.
The condition also states that 50 percent of the 150 MBBS seats i.e. 75 seats of Tripura Santiniketan Medical College will be reserved for permanent residents of Tripura state. The independent trust has to admit 10 (ten) students from state quota/permanent resident of Tripura in the first 6 years at the same rate as the tuition fee rate of Agartala Government Medical College. Independent Trusts shall use the facilities of IGM Hospital for teaching purposes only through their own teachers, i.e. Bedside Group Teaching, Demonstrations, Clinical Classes etc. They will not interfere with the current administrative and patient service functions of IGM Hospital. In case of any dispute, the Government of Tripura reserves the right to terminate the Compromise Agreement with the Independent Trust and may do so by giving six months' notice. Chief Minister Saaf said that while permission has been granted to use the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital for teaching purposes, it will not hamper the OPD or any health services of the hospital.
The Chief Minister said, Our experience has shown that when Agartala Government Medical College used a part of Govind Vallabh Pant Hospital for teaching purposes, the standard of patient care was better than that of normal hospitals. The Chief Minister explained some of the reasons for this. According to him, teaching hospitals have presence of all specialist departments, which is not present in general hospitals. Physical examination of the patient, lab tests and radiological examination are conducted according to National Medical Commission standards. Senior faculty, such as professors, associate professors, and assistant professors provide services. Interdisciplinary referral system and patient and medical records are stored in a scientific manner. Junior residents, senior residents and post-graduate students are present 24 hours a day in every department and ward of the hospital. Research activities are mandatory in teaching hospitals.
He claimed that the Tripura government has given top priority to the development of healthcare and has taken several steps to improve overall medical education, specialist and super-specialist services, which will reduce the need to refer patients outside the state. To achieve this goal, the Government of Tripura has strengthened the super-specialty services of Agartala Government Medical College and GB Hospital and opened organ transplant facilities for the people of Tripura.
The Chief Minister said that for the development of healthcare, it is essential to achieve the number of doctors to population ratio (1:1000) prescribed by the World Health Organization, which is currently 1:3448 in Tripura. In this context, the government has appealed to the National Medical Commission to increase the number of MBBS seats in Agartala Government Medical College and GB Hospital. The continued efforts of the state government have been successful by recently increasing the number of MBBS seats from 100 to 150 in Agartala Government Medical College and significantly increasing the number of post-graduate seats. Thus, setting up a private medical college in Tripura will attract significant investment in the state's economy. It will increase opportunities in medical education for the students of Tripura and improve the health care system of the state in the long run.
Congress MLA Sudeep Roy Barman was not completely satisfied after hearing this reply of the Chief Minister. According to him, state investment will come, new colleges will be established, we have no objection to that. But Santiniketan Medical College head Malay Peet is on the CBI's target. He wanted to know whether there are financial resources to run the college if he runs away from the state. He claimed that there were many irregularities in granting permission to Santiniketan College. Allowing this college without Cabinet approval raised suspicions.
Sudeep Babu addressed the Chief Minister and said that many irregularities are being caused by defaming your name. So let the joint committee of MLAs investigate all those irregularities, Sudip Roy Barman proposed to the Chief Minister. Leader of the opposition Jitendra Chowdhury also joined the tune of Sudeep on this day. He said that the Chief Minister was not aware about Santiniketan Medical College in the last session in March. However, the state government has made all arrangements to approve the college within six months. In that, doubts have been raised in the public mind. He also supported the proposal to form a joint committee of legislators.
The Chief Minister did not directly agree to the opposition's proposal. However, MLAs can visit Santiniketan College to inquire about everything. His sarcasm, investors should be asked to bring ED or CBI certificate to bring investment. In that, investors will definitely lose enthusiasm in investing. According to the Chief Minister, the financial transactions of the independent trust for the last three years have been scrutinized. The college is approved by the National Medical Commission. They were satisfied so Santiniketan College was approved. However, if the leader of the independent trust is accused by the CBA, provide evidence, surely action will be taken. The Chief Minister ended his speech by saying this. The principal opened the first half of the session pending proceedings. Then the opposition drew the Chief Minister's attention to the demand of forming a joint committee. But the principal declared the session adjourned. As soon as the session started in the second half, the opposition again demanded the formation of that committee. However, the principal ignored their demands and started the next session. At this, the opposition became red-faced and started protesting at the well. Then they walked out.