The North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) recently saw a lot of hullabaloo over its maiden MBBS course. The powerful Khasi Students’ Union demanded 30 percent reservation of seats in the institute for locals. The KSU had demanded that the principle of RIMS and JIPMER should be applied in the case of NEIGRIHMS too. In the case of the reserved seats from the state quota, it should be left to the respective state governments. In the case of RIMS, Imphal, 32% of the seats are reserved to students who are from the state of Manipur. In the case of JIPMER too, 27% of seats are reserved for the students who are from the Union Territory of Pondicherry.

Jumping into the bandwagon, Meghalaya MP, Mr. P.R. Kyndiah had urged the Union Health Minister, Dr. Ambumani Ramadoss, to have a re-think about the allocation of seats in the MBBS course in the state. The undergraduate course was suppose to start with a batch of 50 students during its first year and next year the number of seats will be doubled to a 100 seats. The super speciality hospital is also planning to start post-graduate courses in Anesthesia, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Radiology, Micro-Biology, and Pathology.

However in a dramatic turn of events, the Khasi Students’ Union backed down from its earlier stand and decided not to stop NEIGRIHMS from starting the MBBS course for the current academic year. The decision was taken after the State Government assured the Student’s Union that it will continue to press the Centre for the allotment of more seats to Meghalaya.

NEIGRIHMS is spread over 300 acres of land of which 276 acres is already in use. The Super Speciality Hospital was built at a cost of Rs. 422 crore with 500 bed facility, nursing home, 15 clinical departments, Para clinical departments and other basic departments. Patients coming into the hospital are not charged anything for the medical attention rendered, they are treated free of cost.

Since the beginning NEIGRIHMS has been besotted with a lot of problems, firstly doctors from outside the region are reluctant to come and practice in the institute, it is yet to be inaugurated officially though it is serving patients who visit the hospital, now the imbroglio over the MBBS entrance examination and then the problem of employing of locals in Group C and Group D posts.

Climbing down from their earlier demands the KSU President Samuel Jyrwa said that they have taken  into account that the admission process was in a very advanced stage and changes at this stage are not feasible.

The State Government is making an out all effort to woo private investors into the field of education. But such exercise is meaningless until and unless education reaches the poor, the down trodden and far flung areas of our state. Such institutions will be charging exorbitant fees from the students, thus depriving bright but underprivileged students of the state.

The Ministry has granted five additional seats for Meghalaya. Two of the seats will be in Medical Colleges anywhere in the country and three are at RIMS, Imphal.

Speaking to a student  from Manipur, this scribe was told that the attitude of the KSU was detrimental for the student community.

However, a local student who had gone for the entrance examination on the 3rd of August said that the demands of the KSU were legitimate, he says that the state was facing acute shortage of doctors and there is no reason why we should not demand for extra seats.

A parent of one of the students who was supposed to appear for the entrance exam said, “The Student’s Union does not have a right to play with the future of our children.”

E P Desk