Unchecked for years, St George Hospital flouts PG guidelines

Affiliated to the JJ Group of Hospitals under Grant Medical College, St George offers postgraduate degrees (MD and MS) in all departments. Only medicine, plastic surgery, orthopaedics and orology have permanent faculty members.

In medicine, the single associate professor has three units under him, whereas MCI guidelines stipulate one professor for every unit. Each unit has two MD students, under the tutorship of the single associate professor; MCI norms stipulate a 1:2 guide-student ratio. The two gynaecology units have at least 10 students, tutored by a doctor posted on an ad-hoc basis for a four-month period, for the past year.

In anaesthesia, the only permanent faculty member retired in March. In other departments without permanent faculty members — radiology, paediatrics and pathology—- students are tutored by teachers on contract. “We have no hold over teachers on contract. In medicine for instance, the two honorary doctors hardly ever show up,” said a resident medical officer.

Wards and OPDs are being manned entirely by resident doctors who are postgraduate students. “The honorary doctors come on specific days for a certain number of hours. The rest of the time, students handle everything,” said the RMO.

The 400-bed hospital has an average 200-250 occupied. “The number crawled to 270 as malaria spread. While patients lie on the floor in other hospitals, here we have entire wards vacant,”added the RMO. MCI guidelines make full bed occupancy mandatory so that students get exposure to clinical training. 

The hospital’s medical superintendent, Dr Chandrakant Gaikwad, said they are working on filling the vacant posts.

Grant Medical College dean Dr TS Lahane says that as affiliates, these colleges do not come under the MCI’s scrutiny directly. “Inspections are held at JJ Hospital. Faculty and students from affiliates are just called to JJ, to mark their attendance.”

He adds MCI only inspects department units at the apex Grant Medical College. “If every department unit including faculty members from all three hospitals together adds up to fulfil MCI norms, we can have PG students in all hospitals. We are not violating MCI norms,” said Lahane.

Students and faculty members say these inspections are an eyewash. “At the last inspection, faculty members from St George and GT marked their attendance as JJ Hospital employees. When the inspectors came to St George, faculty members from there were called here to show all posts were filled,” says a senior administrative doctor.

MCI joint secretary Dr Prasanna Rajan said these “revelations” are “shocking”. “We will have to look into the matter and take urgent action with the state’s Directorate of Medical Education and Research. Our inspectors are supposed to go into every department in every hospital running a PG course.”

The MCI allows teachers on contract, but only under the supervision of a permanent faculty member in a senior post, he added.

At DMER, secretary (medical education) Milind Mhaiskar said, “We will investigate the number of faculty members and take immediate action.”