By IANS,
Kuala Lumpur : The Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) has said that students of the Melaka Manipal Medical College would not be affected by the Medical Council of India (MCI)’s notice de-recognising the medicine and surgery degrees offered by the Kasturba Medical College (KMC), to which the college is affiliated.
The Kasturba Medical College also runs colleges in Manipal and Mangalore in India.
Seeking to allay the anxieties of students, Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) president Ismail Merican said that students would not be affected by the MCI ruling because the college was registered and licenced with the Higher Education Ministry to conduct the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) programme in collaboration with the Manipal Academy of Higher Education.
The MBBS degree from the college have been recognised by the Malaysian council since July 9, 2003, and its graduates have been able to take up medical practice.
He also pointed out that the college’s licensing term was with the Manipal University and not KMC.
“The awarder of the degree is the Manipal University and not the KMC. The role of Manipal University is to render technical and resource support to the college,” he said in a statement Monday.
“Hence, its facilities and support in Manipal are entirely independent of KMC governance.”
He added that KMC had never sought recognition from the MCI and was never under its purview.
Manipal is popular among Malaysian students. Students at the Melaka Manipal Medical College (MMMC) do three years of clinical training in Malaysia and two years of pre-clinical in India.
There has been confusion after reports of de-recognition of the KMCs by the Medical Council of India (MCI), The Star newspaper said Tuesday.
Ismail said the MMC had been informed by the pro-chancellor of Manipal University that MCI was only a recommendatory body and the power to recognise or derecognise was with India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
He said the university had taken appropriate action and the matter was with the ministry to decide.
“I believe the matter will be settled amicably,” he said, adding that the MMC would wait for further developments before taking any decision.
“At this juncture, I would like to advise parents and students alike not to be unduly worried,” Ismail said.