North India church forum calls for action against MCI notice

Dimapur, April 16 (EMN): The Synod of the Church of North India has requested churches and congregations to pray for the Supreme Court hearing on the 20th of April to ‘uphold the rights of minorities as per the Constitution of India.’ The organisation was referring to a notification from the Medical Council of India that allegedly takes away the rights of three medical colleges to admit students into their institutions.
The organisation issued a press release to the media on Saturday, April 15.
“As you are aware, CMC, Ludhiana and Vellore and St. John’s medical College Bangalore were set up to train and provide doctors, graduating from these institutions, to go and work in the over 1300 Christian mission hospitals, serving the poor in remote rural hospitals in the country,” the press release stated.
Students admitted into these medical colleges are sponsored by various sponsoring agencies and churches which have hospitals across the country, catering to the marginalised and resource poor people in remote areas, the forum stated.
“These students when they pass out as doctors go and work in the sponsoring agencies, hospitals for a minimum of two years after their MBBS degree or a minimum of three years after their MD degree.” Some of these doctors make it their life’s mission to work in these remote rural hospitals and serve the poor. In this way these remote hospitals have a steady stream of doctors each year, the organisation observed.
The Medical Council of India has in the Official Gazette dated the 10th of March, notified medical colleges, that there will be central counselling by the state medical councils.
“This means that the state medical councils will assign students to study in particular medical colleges. The state medical councils will send students to the various medical colleges, including the CMCs and St. John’s medical college, who will have to be admitted into these institutions. This notification, effectively takes away the rights of these 3 medical colleges mentioned above, to admit students into their institutions,” the press release stated.
“By this gazette notification of the MCI, minority rights guaranteed under the constitution and the various judgements already passed by the Supreme Court of India have been violated.CMC, Ludhiana has challenged this notification and a state government notification and the same is coming up for hearing today and substantively on the 20th of April.”
The forum has requested to keep the matter in prayer in all the churches.
“On Easter Sunday, kindly make this announcement in your respective churches. Ask your congregations to uphold this matter in prayer. On the 20th of April request all the members of your congregations to pray, that the respected judges of the Supreme Court of India, will uphold the rights of Minority institutions to establish and administer their own educational institutions as per the Constitution of India,” the press release stated.
“Further pray that the gazette notification is struck down as ultra vires (against) the Constitution of India and that our medical colleges of CMC, Ludhiana, Vellore and St. John’s Medical College Bangalore, may be allowed to carry on their admission process as before.”
The press release was appended by Alwan Masih, general secretary of the Synod of the Church of North India.