Centre nod to dental college at Regional Institute of Medical Sciences

[drmithila]

The long-awaited dental college of the Centre-run Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) here will be inaugurated soon as the Centre has given its permission for the same.

The long-awaited dental college of the Centre-run Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) here will be inaugurated soon as the Centre has given its permission for the same.

The first session of the college is likely to begin from next month for which authorities of the premier health institute of the region are in constant touch with central officials.

The annual intake capacity of the college is 50 students from the northeastern states excluding Assam, a statement released by the RIMS media advisor on Tuesday said. Being the host state, Manipur may get a substantial number of seats, it said, adding that some seats are reserved for the children of RIMS employees.

"This is an important milestone for the 40-year-old RIMS. The dental college will be much welcomed by the students of Manipur. All these years, students of the state have been pursuing dental studies in private colleges by paying huge capitation and hostel fees," said the statement.

It said there was inordinate delay in obtaining the permission for the dental college as the relevant file was closed in 2010 in the Union health ministry.

However, the director and his team, who are members of the Dental College Development Committee, contacted the ministry and left no stone unturned to expedite the matter.

One senior specialist, R R Singh, is already in Imphal for the dental college; N Nabachandra, ormer head of the dental department of RIMS, has contributed a lot to the spadework of the college.

Former health minister Anbumani Ramadoss had on May 14, 2008 laid the foundation stones of the dental college, a nursing college and a new OPD block of the institute, which has 23 PG faculties (subjects) and two super specialty departments. The nursing college has already been opened.

Established on September 14, 1972, RIMS was christened Regional Medical College (RMC) and later renamed North Eastern Regional Medical College; from 1976, it was run under the Union home ministry.

After 19 years, it was again renamed Regional Institute of Medical Sciences and its management was under the North East Council (NEC), ministry of DoNER. On April 1, 2007 the institute was taken over by the ministry of health and family welfare.

 

        

[drmithila]

A report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), recently tabled in Parliament, has exposed the state of dental education in India and come down heavily on poor administration.
The report shows how the Dental Council of India (DCI), which is a statutory and recommendatory body to the ministry of health and family welfare, has failed to effectively manage dental colleges.
According to the report, the DCI failed to conduct regular inspections, which it is supposed to carry out in order to ensure continued maintenance of minimum standards in dental education.

The CAG report states the DCI has failed to effectively manage dental colleges
‘It didn’t put up any system to identify the institutions which were due for such periodical inspections and thus couldn’t conduct them in time,’ the CAG report said.
The report points to the fact that records of 24 out of 240 recognised dental colleges, established between 1982 and 2007, have not been reviewed since the recognition of the colleges.
The prescribed periodicity is once every five years after the recognition of a college. The institutions inspected by the DCI are required to pay a fees to the latter towards the renewal, recognition and verification of compliance reports for various courses.

The report found that as of March 2011, fees amounting to Rs 7.07 crore, were outstanding against such colleges.
‘There was no mechanism to ensure colleges deposited the fees. The DCI hasn’t initiated any action against defaulting colleges,’ it said.
According to the Dentists Act, 1948, the DCI decides the maximum number of seats in any course of a dental college. However, the council failed in getting the rule implemented.
‘Admissions in excess of sanctioned capacities were occurring consistently from 2006-07 to 2010- 11,’ it said.
For instance, the Hindustan Institute of Dental Sciences, Greater Noida, with a capacity of 50 students was granted renewal for third-year admissions during 2008-09.
Against this, the college admitted 96 students.
‘Out of 292 dental colleges in the country, the council could produce information about the faculty of only 50 colleges for the period between January and June 2011,’ it said.
Interestingly, a complaint was made to the ministry of health and family welfare stating the DCI flouted norms in the recently concluded process for electing its members.
Dentists have alleged that fake ballot papers were submitted to the returning officer. ‘The ballot papers comprising of 16 pages were circulated and the ballot box was opened by the returning officer on July 16.
‘As per the directive issued by the ministry ballot papers were to be returned in their original form after voting. This has not been adhered to and ballot papers have been admitted in the election even if all 16 pages have not been enclosed,’ vice-president of Delhi State Dental Council, Dr Anil Kumar Chandana, alleged.
CAG heat on toothless DCI over faculty database
Scores of faculty members of dental colleges in the country could be on the payrolls of more than one college.
The audit of dental colleges by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has found discrepancies in the database of faculty members maintained by the Dental Council of India (DCI).
Till October 2011, the database had 21,362 entries. ‘Analysis of the database revealed that in 412 cases of faculty members, there were repetitions of entries with slight modifications in name, date of birth, father’s name etc. but having the same essential details like PAN. This revealed that the database was faulty,’ it said.
‘The possibility of same person claiming employment in more than one college can also not be ruled out,’ the report said. The report slammed the DCI for failing to implement its policy decision of monitoring faculty attendance through a biometric system.
The expenditure incurred on the procurement of biometric machines for this purpose was Rs 1.32 crore, the CAG noted.
The executive committee of the council decided in October 2009, to install biometric machines in all the dental colleges, observing that the teaching staff visited the institutions only for a few days or just during the
inspections.

 

 

        

[Drsumitra]

Human Resource Development Ministry will bring a new bill to stop the menace capitation fees in medical and engineering colleges. The bill proposes stern action against the guilty institutions. Despite opposition by Bihar and other states, the Central Government has stuck to his decision to implement the Right to Education Act by March 31, 2013.
Under this law action will be taken against the guilty institutions and they a fine of Rs 10 lakh would be imposed. A resolution passed at the 60th meeting of the Central Advisory Board Of Education made it clear that the Right to Education Act would be implemented across the country by March 31. Many states including Bihar have objected to the implementation of the Act, saying that poor states won’t be able to afford the expenses.
Moreover, the share of Central and state governments have not yet been fixed. Bihar and several other states say that the Act should not be implemented till the share of spending between the Centre and the states is finalised.

 

        

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