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Guntur
Medical College Alumni of North America (GMCANA)
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send email request to Bapu@GMCANA.org Dear Alumnus, I am glad to inform you that the 25 seats that were taken out of Guntur Medical College were reinstated by the MCI. In this juncture we have sent a letter to the Principal, Superintendent, District Collector, Vice-Chancellor NTR University of health sciences, Health Secretary, Health Minister and the Chief Minister, beginning of this month about our opinion and how we are feeling about it. I am attaching a copy of the letter we sent to the above individuals. Please cut and paste the link I am giving below to read the news item. http://www.eenadu.net/panelhtml.asp?qrystr=htm/panel7.htm Thanks for your consideration. Warm Regards,
Nagarjuna Ponugoti, M.D. Copy of the text of the letter below: GUNTUR MEDICAL COLLEGE ALUMNI OF NORTH AMERICA To Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy garu Sri K. Rosayya garu, Sri I.V. Subba Rao, IAS Prof. R. Sambasiva Rao, M.D. Smt. G. Jayalakshmi, IAS Dr. Shobha Mohan, M.D. Dr. K.K.D. Malleswara Rao, M.D. Dear Sir/Madam, Reg.: Loss of 25 seats and potential loss of additional 25 seats at Guntur Medical College – Concern of GMCANA and our request for redoubling efforts to correct deficiencies cited in Indian Medical Council Report – offer of our assistance We are GMCANA – Guntur Medical College Alumni of North America – representing about 1800 alumni in North America and are very interested in the welfare of our alma mater. We have over the past many years invested our time, money, energy and ideas in efforts to enhance the educational environment at GMC and GGH, Guntur. We were dismayed to learn of the cut of 25 seats at GMC last year and further depressed about the potential of a cut of additional 25 seats as per the recommendations of Indian Medical Council. We are now worried that this may further lead to additional cuts to the point GMC will be a virtually defunct institution. While the Government has ensured availability of additional medical seats by sanctioning private medical colleges, the decline of government medical colleges by benign neglect will primarily affect three classes of people – first, poor patients; second, academically bright but poor students who cannot afford the high tuition at private medical colleges and third, socially disadvantaged but otherwise bright students among their peers in the so called ‘Reservation’ category. As a society committed to the welfare of all citizens the government should ensure that not only adequate but superior medical care and education are delivered to these segments of our population. As alumni of this great institution of GMC we are committed to help our alma mater as amply demonstrated already by spending upwards of 1.5 million dollars so far on equipment in various departments at GGH and GMC and building the magnificent GMCANA AUDITORIUM at GMC. In addition we have foreseen the current dire circumstances and presented our ideas in December 2001 to the Government to enhance the Medical Education in all Medical Colleges in A.P. While there are additional deficiencies cited in the report of Indian Medical Council, apparently the primary concern is the number of vacancies in the Teaching Medical Staff. This is very evident from the fact that when the government advertised for 360 teaching positions only 8 applications were received last year. Again according to other news items there are only 7 qualified Cardiologists against the sanctioned 77 positions in Government Hospitals. We know for sure the glaring deficiency in numbers in all departments at our own GMC. This also led to inappropriate appointments – specialists in one subject and non-specialists being posted in other departments. While the government is trying out different remedies to correct this situation, in our opinion a comprehensive and realistic approach is yet to evolve. We believe the very first step should be to adopt UGC scale of salaries to ALL teachers at all government medical colleges. Additional incentives should include allowing staff to care for paying patients, within the teaching hospitals. We are afraid that nothing would improve without adopting these two essential measures. We also request you to develop a long term plan for GMC and GGH and implement parts of it in response to IMC deficiency list rather than responding with piecemeal approach. We are specifically referring to efforts at building haphazard structures in our already cramped campus at GGH to correct infrastructure deficiencies instead of visionary planning of a Millennium Block incorporating multiple departments as advocated by us. We promise to donate medical equipment in the new Millennium Block to the best of our ability as a continuation of our efforts to develop our alma mater. Other far reaching, out of the box, ideas were incorporated in our Comprehensive Proposal presented to the government in 2001 and available at our website – WWW.GMCANA.ORG. In conclusion, we request you to develop a systematic, well thought out plan to correct all deficiencies cited in IMC report (not just getting the seats restored by a political process) while at the same time laying the foundation for permanent improvement in Government Medical Colleges in Andhra Pradesh and we will do our part in the process, contributing ideas, teaching programmes, equipment and whatever else we could sell to our membership. We would like to again reiterate the importance of sustained efforts for the sake of the bright but poor students, disadvantaged best-of-their-peers ‘reservation students’ and equally importantly all patients, including the poor patients who cannot afford expensive care in private hospitals. On behalf of GMCANA, I personally thank you for all the efforts you have already been making and wish you the best of luck and offer my personal regards. Thanking you again, Sincerely,
Nagarjuna Reddy Ponugoti, M.D.
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