PUNE: Almost all government medical colleges in Pune have received show-cause notices from the National Medical Commission (NMC) over severe deficiencies in staffing and infrastructure. The NMC has asked the colleges to respond within seven days or face penalties of ₹1 crore per deficiency. In some cases, permission to operate may be revoked.
The notices follow a recent NMC inspection that found glaring gaps in faculty strength—some colleges had less than 50% of the required staff. Notably, Government Medical College (GMC) Ratnagiri was found to have only 18% of the needed faculty. Several institutions also lacked adequate operation theatres, cadavers, and laboratories.
BJ Medical College in Pune is among the institutions served notices. Its dean, Dr. Eknath Pawar, acknowledged the issue, attributing it to routine staff changes. “We are in the process of sending a reply to the NMC,” he said.
Indira Gandhi Medical College in Nagpur was the only government college in Maharashtra spared from the notices.
Meanwhile, Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical College, run by Pune Municipal Corporation, has also come under scrutiny for lacking basic infrastructure, faculty, and even student hostels. Former Deputy Mayor Dr. Sidhartha Dhende called the situation “deeply concerning,” stating, “What kind of doctors are we producing without sufficient faculty and infrastructure?”
While some experts consider the NMC action routine, the scale of the deficiencies has sparked wider concerns about the quality of medical education in public institutions.
