The Great Indian 'Medical' Tamasha

Image source: Internet

New Delhi: The formation of the National Council for Human Resources (NCHR), a single regulatory body over all other medial councils, came two months after Times Now exposed the Capitation Scam.

The Medical Council of India (MCI), Dental, Nursing, Pharmacy Councils will all be stripped off their power by the newly appointed task force of the Union Health Ministry.

The MCI is a “den of corruption” according to the Delhi High Court, as reported by The Times of India. Amazingly the Government realized the need and waited to take such an action only after video evidences and CBI investigations which all the more made the system look dirtier.

On being asked whether the business of selling seats in Indian medical institutes will eventually reduce after the coming of NCHR, Dr George Thomas, the editor of The Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, which constantly works towards improvising the medical scenario in the country, said, “The University Grants Commission has become a major source of corruption. The fundamental problem is that power sources in society, political, bureaucracy and judiciary, all want loopholes so that their own families can be looked after. So, all regulatory bodies come with built in loopholes to take care of these power sources.”

The news is intriguing as far as Kasturba Medical College (KMC) is concerned, as the institute had been derecognized thrice by the MCI for admitting more students than the sanctioned number of seats. The College will have to wait for the new draft to be released to find out if amendments or improvements have to be made as the task force proposes a “complete cleansing” of the medical education sector.

When asked to comment on the issue, KMC officials refused to speak. A senior official who wished to remain anonymous said, “Our relation with the MCI has not been cordial. We have two cases pending in the court and right now we don’t want any official comments to be issued on this news.” The Dean of MCODS, Manipal was also not available for comment on the issue.

Even though the Karnataka High Court permitted the college to admit 250 students for the present year in the UG division, the website of MCI still sanctions only 150 seats for KMC for the previous years. The total number of students admitted to UG courses in 08-09 has been interestingly 250

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has been the only light shining for the students aspiring to study in the United States from KMC, when MCI deleted the college from their lists and the Education Council for Foreign Medical Graduates(ECFMG) agreed to accept the recognition of the former.

“Generally speaking, the regulatory bodies have buckled under pressure. Political pressure can be bought by those with the money to start private institutions”, said Dr George, when questioned if colleges such as KMC, that faced trouble with the MCI will be under pressure to realize the new rules that will be put across by the NCHR.

Dr Ketan Desai, President, MCI, and Dr P C Kesavankutty Nayar, Vice-President, MCI, were board members of the Sri Ramachandra University in Chennai where the dirty business of capitation (donation) had been exposed. Dr Desai was however not available for comment on this issue.

In Dec 2001, the Delhi High Court ordered the dismissal of Dr Ketan Desai on being found guilty of corrupt practices. Unfortunately for the country and fortunately for him, the list of council members still mysteriously holds his name as President.

Lt Col A R N Setalvad, Secretary MCI is also alleged of embezzlement of Rs 8 Crore from a medical college in Gujarat.

The top officials of the MCI have all mostly been under scrutiny for cases charging them of corruption and embezzlement and it remains to be seen if the new body will keep its promises or follow the greedy mind of Midas.

Dr George Thomas doesn’t keep much hope in this regard, as he commented, “It is likely that in the early phase they may be cleaner than MCI, but this state of affairs is not likely to last long.”

Sub-edited by: Kerban Billimoria