State govt seeks CPS’s explanation on anomalies in affiliated hospitals

Sources at Mantralaya said the notice followed union minister Nitin Gadkari’s complaint to chief secretary Manukumar Srivastava on March 9 against medical education secretary Ashwini Joshi, accusing her of creating impediment to CPS work. Gadkari also said she had a reputation of creating hurdles in the departments she had worked with

The state medical education department has asked the College of Physician and Surgeons (CPS) to clarify its stand on March 21 over the alleged anomalies detected at the hospitals offering CPS-affiliated courses. A notice was issued to CPS on Tuesday evening.

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Sources at Mantralaya said the notice followed union minister Nitin Gadkari’s complaint to chief secretary Manukumar Srivastava on March 9 against medical education secretary Ashwini Joshi, accusing her of creating impediment to CPS work. Gadkari also said she had a reputation of creating hurdles in the departments she had worked with.

During an inspection by the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) last year, two institutions offering courses of specialisation by CPS were found closed while there were deficiencies in 45 institutions, the notice said, adding the remaining 73 refused inspection.

In January and February, Joshi wrote two letters to the union health ministry on the state of affairs at CPS and why admissions to its courses should be stopped. The association of CPS-affiliated institutes then met Gadkari and sought his intervention.

However, on Tuesday, Joshi sent a strong rebuttal to Srivastava in response to Gadkari’s letter, defending her stand and citing examples of Rajasthan and Gujarat that had stopped admissions to CPS courses.

Government officials have expressed surprise that a union minister wrote to the chief secretary on a subject he was not connected to. One of them pointed out that the issue could have been brought to the notice of chief minister Eknath Shinde or deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis or medical education minister Girish Mahajan.

Joshi could not be contacted for her comments despite attempts by HT.

Gadkari in his letter to the chief secretary said that Dr Balasaheb Khadbade, secretary of the association of CPS-affiliated institutes, met him. Every year, admissions to postgraduate courses are done in CPS institutes through NEET for courses like MD, MS and DNB, the letter said. “CPS courses for the 2022-23 academic year has not started even after Centre has conducted the NEET-PG for 2023-24. Today, a situation has arisen that parents, students and institute owners are awaiting admissions, while the process has been completed in the rest of the country.”

The results of NEET-PG will be declared in a month and if admissions are not started, the seats will go waste due to the attitude of one officer, Gadkari said.

Srivastava did not respond to the messages from HT.

Dr Suhas Pingle, immediate past president of the Indian Medical Association (Maharashtra unit), said medical education should not suffer. “It should not be bought. Merits should always prevail, and laws of the land should be applicable to CPS. With stiff competition in NEET at all-India level, many do not get the specialty of their choice. In the last few years, CPS has become a shortcut for such MBBS graduates who are looking for postgraduate degrees.”

Speaking about Gadkari’s letter, Dr Pingle, who is also an ex-member of MMC, said Gadkari is the union minister for road transport & highways and should not interfere in the medical education department. “We want to know if the prime minister office is aware of Gadkari’s letter to the chief secretary. We feel that there should be a detailed investigation into the corruption going on in CPS for years now.”