Chennai:
Concerned over the mushrooming of ill-equipped medical education institutions in the country, the Madras High Court on Wednesday said the government and the Medical Council of India should deal with them with an "iron hand".
"These institutions would produce poor quality professionals, who would be a liability to society... The government and the MCI should deal with such institutions with an iron hand," Justice K K Sasidharan said.
Dismissing petitions from 148 students of DD Medical College and DD Hospitals, which had been denied recognition by MCI, he said, "The mushrooming of ill-equipped medical and technical education are really a threat to society."
The students had sought a direction to forbear MCI and the Tamil Nadu Dr M G R Medical University from treating their admission to the MBBS course in DD College during 2011-12 and 2012-13 as illegal.
MCI had refused recognition to DD Medical College and DD Hospitals in Thiruvallur district for 2011-12 and 2012-13 after it found the college lacked institutional and infrastructural facilities.
After several rounds of litigations between the institute and MCI, the matter is now pending before the Supreme Court.
In the meantime, 112 first-year MBBS students, who joined in 2012-13, along with another 36 students, who had failed in the first year examination, filed petitions seeking a direction to MCI and the university to allow them appear for the exam scheduled on August 1.
They had sought a direction to MCI to treat them on par with those admitted in 2010-11, till a decision was taken by the Supreme Court in this case.
Dismissing their petitions, the judge said, "Students have studied in an ill-equipped institution and it is not open to the court to permit students to write the examination out of sympathy."
Terming it as a "classic case" where a medical institution took students for a ride, he said the institution considered medical education like any other business and cheated them.He further said though he was aware of the students' plight, it was not possible to permit them to write the exam as it would result in directing MCI and university to violate their own regulations.
