GUWAHATI: The scramble for a seat to study medicine in a government medical college may be education’s equivalent of the gold rush, but 21 of 100 MBBS berths in Manipur‘s Churachandpur Medical College have found no takers this year even after the second round of counselling.
Classes for the second MBBS batch are due to start on September 11, but only three students have so far enrolled in Manipur’s newest medical college from the all-India quota. The state quota in a medical college is 85%.
The college, the only medical teaching institute in the state’s hills, was inaugurated by Union home minister Amit Shah in January.
As on Thursday, the institute did not have regular faculty. Those who had been appointed left in the wake of the ethnic conflict that erupted on May 3, leaving three senior resident doctors who aren’t even permanent staff to step in, sources said.
“Eight newly enrolled MBBS students there are from the hill districts of Manipur. The rest, including the trio from the all-India quota, have opted for alternative learning arrangements at Imphal’s Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences,” a source said.
“Of the 76 students from the state quota, most, including those from the valley and Naga-inhabited districts, prefer the alternative offered by the National Medical Commission.”
The strength of the first MBBS batch enrolled last year increased to 32 after many belonging to the hill districts left medical colleges in the Imphal valley and joined the one in Churachandpur, apparently due to the ethnic strife. But these students are suffering for want of faculty and fully functional facilities, sources said.
Classes for the second MBBS batch are due to start on September 11, but only three students have so far enrolled in Manipur’s newest medical college from the all-India quota. The state quota in a medical college is 85%.
The college, the only medical teaching institute in the state’s hills, was inaugurated by Union home minister Amit Shah in January.
As on Thursday, the institute did not have regular faculty. Those who had been appointed left in the wake of the ethnic conflict that erupted on May 3, leaving three senior resident doctors who aren’t even permanent staff to step in, sources said.
“Eight newly enrolled MBBS students there are from the hill districts of Manipur. The rest, including the trio from the all-India quota, have opted for alternative learning arrangements at Imphal’s Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences,” a source said.
“Of the 76 students from the state quota, most, including those from the valley and Naga-inhabited districts, prefer the alternative offered by the National Medical Commission.”
The strength of the first MBBS batch enrolled last year increased to 32 after many belonging to the hill districts left medical colleges in the Imphal valley and joined the one in Churachandpur, apparently due to the ethnic strife. But these students are suffering for want of faculty and fully functional facilities, sources said.