NASHIK, APRIL 2: The Maharashtra government has formed a committee headed by the Vice-Chancellor of Mumbai University, Dr Snehlata Deshmukh, to review the newly formed Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS).The five member panel comprising of Dr Deshmukh, Dr Sharad Hardikar, Dr B K Goyal, Dr K S Baroi and Dr Chopda will review the functioning of the MUHS, the syllabi prepared by it, the manpower and resources at its disposal and the complaints against it and submit its report in three months.The registrar of the university, N R Bhadane told The Indian Express that though no formal communication had been received from the government as yet about the appointment of the review committee, the university was ready for any kind of review. He claimed that the MUHS was running efficiently despite scare resources and manpower. He added that construction of the first phase of the university's own campus at Mhasrul (about 10 km from Nashik) was nearing completion and work on admission for courses commencing in the ensuing academic year would be carried out from the new premises. The university currently functions from a building leased out by the Nashik Municipal Corporation.The local MLA and former health minister Dr Daulatrao Aher, who had taken special interest in establishing the university in Nashik, had, incidentally, submitted a memorandum to the Chancellor, Dr P C Alexander, when the latter had visited Nashik on March 12. The memorandum had stressed the need for financial provision of Rs 14 crore and appointment of 750 employees, out of which 230 were urgently needed.The MUHS had been established in Nashik on June 10, 1998, and Dr Aher had found himself at the centre of a controversy over its location as some leaders from Vidarbha region had demanded that the same be established in Nagpur to remove the developmental backlog of the region. Dr Aher had utilised the services of the Maratha Vidhya Prasarak Samaj (the largest educational institution in north Maharashtra) during the early days of the university.The MUHS had conducted the first Common Entrance Test (CET) in May last year amid confusion and complaints from students and parents. Officials, including VC Dr Dayanand Dongaonkar, had pleaded that MUHS was facing teething troubles and that everything would be set right. However, the computerised processing of the answer papers of the CET had invited suspicion as the system developed a snag. A large number were manually scrutinised.The university has about 250 colleges affiliated to it and had recently held a conference to promote coordination among various branches of medicine.
