Burla Medical issue: acid test for the health minister

Withdrawal 43 seats from VSS Medicals College citing poor infrastructure with insufficient teaching faculty has triggered severe discontentment among the locals. While eminent citizens believed it an out come of the negligent attitude of the state government on the institution, local BJP legislature tried to make it a political issue against the present government. “On several occasions I put forth a proposal of converting the medical college as autonomous one. But due to the negligent attitude of the state government the proposal remains in the cold storage. The state government did not take step to make necessary arrangement for infrastructural development of the college as assured 2 years back. So we have decided to make it an issue to stall the state legislative assembly in the coming session”, legislature Jay Narayan Mishra told while demonstrated in front of the office of the RDC on Friday. Sources said, Medical Council of India has withdrawn 43 seats from the VSS Medical College from the current academic session. The MCI had granted 43 seats each to all three medical colleges of Orissa directing the state government to fulfill the required guidelines of infrastructural development along with filling up the vacancies of teaching faculty. While government took steps to develop the infrastructures of Behampur and Cuttack colleges, the condition of the VSS Medical College was left unchanged. The condition of the college can be well imaginable when out of the total sanctioned 205 posts 64 posts are lying vacant since a long time. Surprisingly important department likes orthopedic, microbiology, forensic and physiology departments are run with a single lecturer as these departments do not either a professor or an assistance professor. Out of the 120 post sanctioned of lecturers, the college has only 32 lecturers. All most all OTs of the institutions do not have proper facilities due to poor maintenance.
“Veer Surendra Sai Medical College and hospital of Burla is the only Medical institution of its kind of the region where people from entire western Orissa and parts of Chhhatisgarh are coming for medical care. The oldest institution of the country does not facilitate with modern infrastructure because of the constant apathetic attitude of the state government”, the former MP Surendra Lath criticized while speaking in the demonstration.

The BJP later handed over a memorandum to the chief Minister through RDC of Sambalpur demanding the immediate steps to revamp the standard to meet the requirement of MCI. The memorandum also demanded the government to convert it a autonomous institution.

On the other hand the eminent citizen of Sambalpur and former vice-chancellor of the Berhampur University Prof. Aditya Prasad Padhi reacting sharply on the decision of the MCI of withdrawing the 43 seats from the Burla medicals, asked the Chief Minister to make necessary arrangement immediately to restore the situation. In a letter to the CM he has suggested an autonomous status to the institution “it is a part of the constant apathy of the state government on western Orissa. I hoped government would take some step to restore the situation”, Prof. Padhi contented The former Parliamentarians including Sriballav Panigrahi and Bhawani Sankar Hota have also reacted sharply over the issue. Social activist Dilip Padhi and engineer Karunakar Supkar have also demanded immediate intervention of the government on this issue.