State to review decision on 10 CPS courses recognised by Centre

The state medical education and drugs department in Maharashtra will review its decision to de-recognise 10 courses offered by the College of Physicians and Surgeons. The decision was made after anomalies were found in affiliated institutes.

More than four months after it de-recognised all the courses offered by the city-based College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS), the state medical education and drugs department on Wednesday told the Bombay high court that it would review its decision as regards 10 courses which were approved by the Central government.

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Dinesh Waghmare, principal secretary with the department, filed an affidavit stating that an opportunity for hearing was given to CPS before issuing an order on July 13 closing down 10 fellowships, 17 diploma and 2 certificate courses. The order was issued after anomalies were found in the 44 institutes affiliated to CPS during inspections.

The affidavit was in response to a petition filed by CPS, claiming that the state could not have de-recognised the 10 courses which were recognised by the Centre.

Dr Suhas Pingle, a former member of Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC), has filed an application opposing CPS’s petition. In his plea, filed through advocate Madhav Thorat, Dr Pingle has said that when he was a member of MMC and president of the Maharashtra chapter of Indian Medical Association, he came to know that small hospitals like clinics were recognised by CPS as training and teaching hospitals for conferment of its medical degrees.

These clinics/hospitals, he said, lacked essential infrastructure, equipment, teaching and non-teaching staff. “No transparency was maintained while admitting students to various postgraduate courses and in conducting examinations and evaluating answer sheets.” He claimed that many students were given certificates despite failing examinations.

Pingle pointed out that Medical Council of India (MCI) had recommended de-recognising CPS courses back in 2000, and it did de-recognise 11 courses later. “Unfortunately, because of the influence of CPS and its office bearers over the government, the state of Maharashtra, when MMC was under the administrator’s rule prior to 2011, included those de-recognised courses in the schedule of MMC.”

“In short, the state of Maharashtra illegally and without visiting any hospitals and/or clinics, where the students were claimed to have been trained for CPS courses, included the 11 courses in the schedule of MMC,” the plea said, highlighting how these courses were recognised only in Maharashtra and how the candidates with those postgraduate degrees were allowed to practise in the state.