Medical studies at IITs hit hurdle

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) may have to wait longer to start teaching medicine - thanks to a turf war.

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) may have to wait longer to start teaching medicine - thanks to a turf war.

HT Image

The health ministry has raised fresh objections to legal amendments aimed at allowing the IITs to start medical programmes, targeting the wording of the proposed changes, top government sources have told HT.

The ministry has said that the amendments drafted by the human resource development ministry do not accurately represent its views that the IITs must take approval from the Medical Council of India before awarding degrees allowing recipients to practice.

The human resource development ministry and the law ministry are now set to discuss the amendments, sources said.

"Any significant delay in finalising the amendments could hurt the chances of them being in place by the coming academic year. It will be sad if students suffer because of a turf war," a source cautioned.

IIT Kharagpur has already signed an MoU with foreign institutions to start a hospital on its campus.

The HRD ministry and the health ministry in late 2010 agreed to allow the IITs to start multi-disciplinary programmes in medicine on their own.

But courses awarding that lead to medical practice would only be started with prior approval from the MCI, it was decided.

The amendment Bill drafted by the HRD ministry states that the IITs - India's premier engineering schools - will have the power to start medical courses "without prejudice to the MCI."

But the health ministry wants the amendment to specifically contain reference to approvals from the MCI.

"We sense something surreptitious in the way the HRD ministry has drafted the amendment, that is why we are concerned and want clearer wording," a source in the health ministry said.

The HRD ministry wanted to include the amendment allowing medical education at the IITs as a part of amendments, which it tabled in Parliament in 2010.

But opposition from the health ministry at that time stalled the move.