No, the central government did not establish 9 medical colleges in Telangana in the past three years

Chaitanya

A post claiming that the Narendra Modi led central government established 9 medical colleges in Telangana during the last 3 years is being widely shared across social media platforms. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.

The archived version of the post can be seen here.

Claim: Narendra Modi government has established 9 medical colleges in Telangana during the last 3 years.
Fact: The Central government has not established any medical college in Telangana since the inception of the centrally sponsored scheme. Information regarding MCI’s recognition to 9 medical colleges in Telangana is misconstrued as central government establishing those medical colleges. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.

On 30 July 2021 in a written reply to a question seeking information regarding the recognition of medical colleges by the Medical Council of India during the last three years, Union Health Minister stated that ‘As informed by National Medical Commission (NMC), 90 medical colleges have been established during the last three years.’

In this response, Union Minister used the term ‘established’ rather than recognized which led to the confusion. However, these colleges are not established by the central government rather recognized by the National Medical Commission or the erstwhile MCI. This is evident as the list of the colleges provided by the minister in the same response also features private colleges. For example out of the 9 colleges recognized by the MCI in Telangana, 5 are private colleges. Permission accorded by the central government to one such college recognized by MCI in Telangana can be viewed here.

Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS):

Currently central government has been implementing a centrally sponsored scheme (CSS) namely ‘Establishment of new Medical Colleges attached with existing district/referral hospitals.’ The fund sharing pattern between the central and state government for establishment of a medical college under the Scheme is 90:10 for NE/Special Category States and 60:40 for other States. Further, the establishment of 157 new Medical Colleges has been approved under the scheme in three phases.

However, to date, no college was allotted to Telangana under the scheme. This is evident as Telangana did not find a mention in the list of states in which medical colleges are approved under three phases of the scheme. The Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare also stated the same in a written response to a question regarding the same back in March 2021.

Procedure followed in establishing a Medical College:

As per the provisions of the Indian Medical Council (IMC) Act, 1956 and the amendments made to this act in 1993, prior permission of central government is mandatory for opening of a new medical college, increasing the admission capacity and starting of new or higher course of studies. Accordingly, eligibility and qualifying criteria for opening of a new medical college are laid down in ‘Establishment of Medical College Regulations, 1999’. The following procedure is followed for according recognition to a medical college.

An application for opening a new medical college has to be submitted to the central govt as laid down in the MCI regulations.
The central government forwards the application to the MCI.
MCI evaluates the application for opening a new medical college and also carries out physical inspection to verify information supplied by the applicant.
The permission to establish a medical college and to admit students is granted initially for a period of one year and is renewed on yearly basis subject to verification of achievements of annual targets.
The MCI carries out inspections for annual renewal of permission till such time the establishment of the medical college and expansion of the hospital facilities are complete and a formal recognition to the medical college is granted.
Based on the amendments made to the MCI Act in 2010, the MCI grants formal recognition to the medical college after inspecting the newly established Medical College and its affiliated hospital for a specified period of time each year till the completion of its work.

To sum it up, the central government did not establish 9 medical colleges in Telangana in the past three years.