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The revised regulations published on May 1 this year by the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCISM) to assess and regulate the minimum standards and requirements (MSR) for the self-financing Ayurveda teaching institutions and attached hospitals will not be fully applicable to the existing institutions in the country, and in no way they will affect the functioning of the institutions.
All concerns of the college managements will be addressed and resolved in a very supporting manner, the chairman of the NCISM confirmed to Pharmabiz.
In an online chat with Pharmabiz, the chairman, Vaidya Jayant Dev Pujari, said he received a memorandum sent by the Ayurveda College Management Association from Kerala (KISMA), urging the commission to exempt them from the purview of the new MSR, accordingly the commission has constituted a committee to study the issues of the prevailing Ayush colleges, and the matter will be resolved shortly.
“The Commission has discussed the letter in its true spirit, accordingly it has constituted a committee to study the matters. The committee is now working on it,” he told Pharmabiz.
When asked whether the new regulations are applicable for the existing colleges, the chairman said, “My personal opinion is that the college managements in Kerala have not fully read it or fully understood it. Not all of the regulations are applicable for them, but a few of them are applicable”, he said by adding that the committee constituted by the NCISM to study the issues will sort out the matters and make a report to the commission.
The college managements association, KISMA, had sent one memorandum to the commission in July urging the commission to exempt them from the purview of the new MSR. However, the association president, while speaking to Pharmabiz, said they have not received any response to their letter from the NCISM chairman.
The president of KISMA further said, the new regulations want the existing institutions to appoint seven more teachers and 20 non-teaching staff from this academic year onwards. Besides, all the departments should be furnished with modern equipment and instruments for increasing the standards of educational institutions. He said these two requirements are the most challenging and most worrying factors as far as the management of the existing colleges are concerned. As per the Commission, the existing institutions also have to comply with these two norms in the MSR.
Talking on the expenditure point of view, he said a college has to spend more than rupees one crore for purchasing new equipment for all the departments, further, there is an additional expense of Rs. 50 lakh towards salary for the new staff including teachers. Either the government or the students do not support making a change in the free structure to hike a little bit. So, it will be difficult for the college managements to run the institutions complying with the new regulations. He expressed the hope that the NCISM will make changes in the new MSR in support of the existing institutions.
As per the new MSR, the minimum bed strength for a teaching hospital attached to an Ayurveda college depends on the admission strength. For example, if the admission strength is 50 students per year, the minimum bed strength is 100. On the lines of the modern medicine teaching institutions, state-of-the-art equipment should be set up in the laboratories, and skilled IT officers must be employed in the technical department. The space in the OP department of the hospital and the seating capacity of the class rooms of the colleges must be expanded.
The college website should be linked to the Central Council website, which is linked to the Ministry's website. The website should display patients in the Out-Patient Department and In-Patient Department.
The NCISM has released two MSRs, one for regulating undergraduate courses and another for postgraduate courses.
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