The West Bengal health department has ordered a halt to student admissions at a private medical college in Tali, East Bardhaman, after finding that the institution has no own hospital and does not have adequate beds for clinical training and patient care, according to Health Minister Shardwata Mukhopadhyay.
The college has been operating for about two years. It has 150 students, after admitting 50 students in its first year and doubling admissions the following year. The health department’s decision raises questions about the academic and professional future of those students, although students told the publication that they would continue their studies as before and were not facing any immediate difficulty.
Mukhopadhyay said the institution could not meet the requirements for medical education without an attached hospital. “A medical education is not possible without a hospital,” the minister said, according to Anandabazar – West Bengal. He said the college did not have its own hospital, had insufficient beds and had therefore been directed to stop admissions.
The college authorities have told the health department that they are providing services through a rented hospital. The department did not accept that arrangement as sufficient, with the minister stating that the hospital being used for patient care was also rented and that its bed strength was inadequate for the institution’s requirements.
The reported arrangement has also affected the location of clinical care and practical training. Patients requiring admission and treatment are said to be taken to a private hospital approximately 15 kilometres from the college. This means that the college’s teaching operations and the hospital facilities being used for clinical work are not located on the same campus, according to the report.
For medical students, an attached hospital is not only an administrative requirement but also the setting for hands-on exposure to patients, clinical procedures and hospital operations. The health department’s action therefore concerns both the college’s admission capacity and the infrastructure available for practical medical education.
Anandabazar – West Bengal reported that attempts were made to contact the college’s principal, Amitabha Pal, but he did not answer the phone. The college authorities also did not provide a response. The health department’s admission halt is the immediate administrative step reported in the case; no further timeline for the institution’s compliance or for any review of the order was provided.
