A 3-room nursing college in Madhya Pradesh exposed a major problem.


The college is run by the former Director of Medical Education.

Bhopal:

Even as the Central Bureau of Investigation is probing more than 600 nursing colleges in Madhya Pradesh after finding that many are running without adequate faculty or infrastructure, NDTV reported a similar case in the state capital. Visited a college and found that the claims were indeed true.

What makes this particular college so difficult, and symptomatic of a much larger problem, is that it is run by a former director of medical education – the man charged with ensuring That such institutions maintain the highest standards.

The recognition of 19 such institutes was revoked in August amid allegations of running ‘ghost’ nursing colleges in the state. The following month, the Madhya Pradesh High Court ordered a CBI probe into all 670 nursing colleges registered in the state in 2020-21.

College or home?

NDTV visited Swetha Institute of Health Science in Bhopal’s Data Colony and found that the college was being run from just one floor of a three-storey residential building. The college, run by NM Srivastava – the former director of medical education in Madhya Pradesh – offers B.Sc as well as diploma courses in nursing.

On entering the building, the first thing one sees is a paper pasted on the wall with numbers to call if no one from the college is around. The ground floor and second floor are residential houses and the college is just outside the first floor.

To be registered as a nursing college, an institution must have an area of ​​23,000 square feet, a certain number of faculty members, a mess, a library and a 100-bed hospital. There are total three rooms in Swetha Institute.

When NDTV called one of the numbers on the paper when no one was found in the college, we were told that two of these rooms housed laboratories and at one point the entire building used to run out of the institute. The man also claimed that he has a tie-up with a hospital for training, which is against the rules, if true.

Shockingly, the college was started in 2015-16 and since then at least four batches have graduated from it, earning some of the nurses working in hospitals. Questions are being raised on training. The last batch was inducted in 2020 and no new students have been admitted as it is being investigated.

The future is in jeopardy

The last batch of students in the college is in the first year of three years as there is no examination. NDTV attended protests by students of Swetha Institute and other such colleges and heard heart-wrenching stories of institutions toying with their future.

Some students said that one or two faculty members teach in 15 colleges and many colleges have not conducted any exams for years. During NDTV’s investigation, we found that James Thomas teaches in 10 colleges in Bhopal, Gwalior and Jabalpur, and is principal of some colleges and associate professor in others.

Two other faculty members, Kumari Leena and Vishnu Kumar Swarankar teach in 18 and 15 colleges respectively.

Some students said they took up jobs at call centers and petrol pumps so they could afford the endless wait to graduate.

Ajay Rajak, a nursing college student, said, “We live in the city on rent and pay the loan. It’s a lot of stress if there are no exams. It’s a four-year degree. It’s been three years and the first Year exam is not done yet.

Another student Himanshu Shekhar said, “Education department needs to promote first and second year students and conduct third year exams. Playing with our future will not work.”

Investigating agencies have also found that many colleges have no faculty, no training and only give certificates to students, putting the health of patients at risk.

What did the ministers say?

When Madhya Pradesh Health Minister Prabhuram Chaudhary was asked what the government was doing to ensure that the people of the state got good, qualified nurses, he said, “We are always looking to improve things. are working. We have increased the recruitment of doctors, nurses and paramedical staff.”

When specifically asked about the nursing college scam, he said the matter was under hearing and it would not be appropriate to comment on it.

Medical Education Minister Vishwas Sarang also said that the matter is before the courts and it would not be right to comment on it.

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