Slashing of MBBS quota: SKIMS issues clarification

Srinagar, May 04: In response to the National Medical Commission’s (NMCs) notice that had threatened slashing of MBBS seats for Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Medical College Srinagar, the institute has issued a clarification.
Earlier, on April 29, the NMC, which regulates medical education and medical professionals, issued a show cause notice signed by the Director Under Graduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB) of NMC which had shown inefficiency on part of SKIMS administration.
The NMC notice had mentioned many discrepancies that are necessary and it was further conveyed that the issue has been viewed seriously by the competent authority.
The NMC had asked the medical college authorities to explain reasons after issuance of the show cause notice as to why seats for MBBS should not be reduced for the year 2024-2025 or a monetary penalty as per regulations be imposed.
Principal SKIMS Medical College Srinagar, Dr Irfan Rabani said that all the queries required and raised by the NMC have been answered. The Deemed Medical University of SKIMS has also issued a clarification regarding the NMC notice.
A spokesperson of SKIMS stated that the NMC issued a public notice to all Medical Institutions across the country on 18th March, 2024 for annual declaration as required under various regulations.
“The last date of providing such information on web portal was fixed on 10th April, 2024. Accordingly, SKIMS uploaded the information on 6th April, 2024. This required providing extensive details over 500 fields on the web portal, covering all aspects of institutional functioning. However, while filling up the details, some portal fields were not taking up the information, despite repeated attempts,” the spokesperson said.
While deliberating on the show cause notice (issued on 29th April), the SKIMS authorities on 1st May, 2024 during virtual interaction with the NMC, clearly pointed out the technical hitches faced during filling up of few fields on the NMC web portal.
Furthermore, all queries raised were duly answered based on facts and figures. It was clarified before the NMC that the faculty and residents are marking their biometric attendance on the AEBAS System and screenshots of the pie chart as depicted on NMC website were also produced before them.
In reply to the queries raised by NMC, it was submitted that the SKIMS Deemed University has a bed capacity of 1,540; during the last year 6,178 Cytopathology cases, 40,785 Culture Sensitivity tests, 103,374 Serology samples, 26,793 Minor Surgeries and 26,588 Major Surgeries were performed.
Furthermore, the spokesperson said the number of families allocated per student and the operational difficulties with the plan for increasing the same was also discussed.
“The list of cadavers along with transportation details had already been shared, apart from video captures obtained during the examinations,” SKIMS stated.
The spokesperson clarified that NMC as an Apex Regulatory Body regularly obtains information from medical institutions across the country.
It said it was for the first time that such information was required to be filled up on the web portal, which led to communication gap owing to some fields on the portal not taking up the data and the same stands clarified.