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| Codify Recuritment Rules Framed By MCI : Expert | | | Jammu, April 21
In an open letter to the Chief Justice of Supreme Court and Chairman UGC, an eminent expert on biochemistry,Dr R.L.Mattoo, has requested their intervention for modifying the recruitment rules framed by the Medical Council of India.
Dr Mattoo, had spent more than three decades of services in various universities,besides Haryana Agricultural University,Jammu Medical College and Jammu university,and is a former President of the Association of clinical Biochemists of India.
In his letter he has referred to the MCI brochure regarding teachers’ eligibility qualifications for recruitment in medical colleges of India and said that the rules were discriminatory. He has said that for more than 40 years and until 1998, MCI brochures, particularly those related to “Teachers’ Eligibility Qualifications for recruitment in Medical Colleges of India”, stated that “an M.Sc. degree will be treated as a Medical Degree if awarded to a person who possesses basic Medical Degree, namely, M.B.B.S. or equivalent, under the Indian Medical Council Act of 1954”. Those were the days when some Universities, such as Rajasthan University, used to award M.Sc. degrees in Pharmacology, Anatomy, etc., to Doctors possessing MBBS or equivalent degrees. However, there were also some select Institutions that also awarded around the same time and thereafter M.Sc (Medical) degrees to candidates who were not necessarily MBBS degree holders but were admitted to such programmes after conventional B.Sc. degrees. Thus, in order to differentiate between these so called Medical-MSc degrees and the ones awarded to MBBS degree-holders, MCI categorically recognized only the latter as Medical degrees and the M.Sc. awarded to B.Sc. degree-holder were called as “Non-Medical” degrees. Because of the paucity of M.D. or Medical-M.Sc. (awarded after MBBS) degree-holders, Non-Medical M.Sc. degree-holders were declared eligible for appointment to (a maximum of) Lecturer post but for promotion to higher posts they were required to possess Ph.D. degree; the total strength of such non-medicos in the Department was restricted to 30% in pre- and para- clinical subjects except in Biochemistry where the number could exceed up to 50%. For Headship in these Departments, a Non-Medical person with Ph.D. degree could be considered only in Biochemistry discipline.
According to Dr Mattoo,in the revised Rules of 1998, MCI has coined a unique and new terminology, such as, ‘NON-MEDICAL’ MEDICAL degree, meaning a Non-Medical degree awarded under “Faculty of Medicine” and not “Faculty of Science or Faculty of Life Sciences”. In fact, MCI has gone a further by declaring M.Sc. degree through Faculty of Science as ineligible qualification for recruitment in Medical Colleges. (Incidentally, despite this weird definition, some such ‘Non-Medical’ Medical M.Sc. degrees awarded through Faculty of Science/Life Sciences by some Universities are recognized by MCI, but their number is less than 1% of the total Universities). This, in my opinion, is grossly discriminatory because (i) the M.Sc. degree programmes under the UGC syllabi, implemented uniformly in India since 1998, include equally relevant and even more courses than are taught under Faculty of Medicine, for instance, in Biochemistry, UGC curriculum includes Genetics, Molecular Biology, Clinical Biochemistry and Human Nutrition and related Laboratory Courses including Diagnostics, in addition to small Research Project, and (ii) the number of Institutions awarding such Medical-M.Sc. degrees under the Faculty of Medicine does not even account for 5% of the total number of Universities awarding M.Sc. degrees, in say Biochemistry. Therefore, why bar such MSc (non-medical) degree-holders, as constitute 90% of the total annual qualified product, for recruitment to Medical Colleges when the course curriculum is the same? Since the qualifying degree for admission to so-called ‘Non-Medical’ Medical M.Sc. degree programme in most Institutions is also B.Sc. or B.Sc. (Hons.) in some places or B.Sc. (Medical – wherein Anatomy and Physiology subjects form the part of the curriculum) awarded under Faculty of Medicine, as only in a very few cases, such as in Amritsar Medical College, why should the products through Faculties of Science/Life Sciences be discriminated against?
Dr Mattoo has called for steps to rectify this “ blatant discrimination.” He has pointed out that more than half the Medical Colleges in India are understaffed. Many Biochemistry Departments of the Medical Colleges in the country don’t have even one MD Biochemistry degree-holder on the Faculty. In fact, MDs in Biochemistry are not available in such numbers as are needed. Furthermore, pursuing MD in Biochemistry is the last option of a Medical Graduate (MBBS) and only those few opt for it who are either academically poor or wish to have a non-transferable, 10am-4pm comfortable job (mostly ladies option) or wish to go commercial; indeed they constitute a negligible proportion of Graduates of Medicine. By restricting recruitment of ‘Non-Medical’ scientific manpower, the MCI was further chopping the progress of Medical Research in India.
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