Bhopal News: New Medical Colleges Tied To Old Ones, Students Suffer Delays | FP Photo
Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Newly opened medical colleges continue to function under shadow of old and established medical colleges, which act as “headquarters,” causing delays in decision-making and hardship for students.
The FAIMA Doctors Association (Federation of All India Medical Association) highlighted the issue in a recent survey, stating that such a system does not allow new colleges to function independently, and students suffer as even petty issues require long waits for advisory.
Old and established medical colleges at Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior, Rewa and Jabalpur are working as autonomous headquarters, while newer colleges at Singrauli, Satna, Satna, Chhindwara, Seoni, Sheopur and others function under them.
Satna medical college, which started in 2023, currently has around 450 MBBS students. Singrauli medical college opened in 2025 and admitted over 90 MBBS students this year.
FAIMA national executive member Dr Akash Soni said Rewa medical college is handling Satna and Singrauli medical colleges, while GMC, Bhopal, looks after Vidisha medical college. “Similarly, other new medical colleges are under monitoring and supervision of established medical colleges.
Such practice is not good for a long period as ultimately students have to suffer because local administration of new medical colleges waits for instructions and advisory from bosses of old medical colleges,” he said.
Citing Satna as an example, DrSoni said medical college is linked to district hospital located eight km away. “Students without personal transport spend two to three hours daily commuting and incur an additional Rs 150–200 per day. Transport facilities for students are poor,” he said.
For Singrauli, experts said new colleges often borrow faculty from older colleges merely to meet National Medical Council (NMC) approval requirements, pointing to staffing constraints.
Former MP Medical Officers Association (MPMOA) officialr DrLalitShrivastava said senior doctors visiting newly opened medical colleges help staff working in a new set-up, but arrangement is not permanent. “Ultimately, newly opened medical colleges will have to be given free hand,” he said.
