Money makes medical council compassionate!
8 Jan 2013 6:37 AM IST
When it comes to matters of corruption and circumventing rules and regulation, it’s truly Incredible India. The much-maligned Medical Council of India (MCI), whose chairman went behind bars a few years ago on charges of corruption, is back to its old ways despite Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s claim of having cleansed the system with a new chairman in place.
Today, the council is all set to approve migration of a few students from a private medical college to a government medical college on ‘compassionate grounds’. The circumvention of rules in the matter is evident from the fact that 99 per cent cases of migration is from private to government colleges and never vice-versa.
According to a member of the MCI: ‘It’s common knowledge that admission in private medical colleges is through capitation fee. When a student from a private medical college after flexing financial muscle is shifted to a government college, he is brought at par with more meritorious students.’
The rules say migration could be allowed if medical condition of a student is disabling or there are other compelling reasons. The rules are so stringent that many candidates have to go to courts to seek the justice from MCI for migration, even from a government college to another government college.
However, there are instances where the rules have been violated with impunity to benefit the rich and the influential. ‘Four years back, an influential doctor got his son admitted to a private medical college at Mullana in Haryana. A year after his admission, the student was ‘diagnosed’ with acute pancreatitis, facilitating his transfer to PGIMS, Rohtak. It needs to be probed if the said student was ever treated for the disease he was ‘diagnosed’ with,’ said the source. ‘The same doctor now has arranged for the migration of his younger son from Subharti Medical College in Meerut to the same government college in Rohtak. Again, on medical grounds,’ the source added. The application of the said student is being considered even as the government college has stated that they do not have vacancy.
Attempts to contact both the chairman and secretary of the MCI, professors KK Talwar and S Srivastava, went in vain as they did not respond either to phone calls or text messages.
Today, the council is all set to approve migration of a few students from a private medical college to a government medical college on ‘compassionate grounds’. The circumvention of rules in the matter is evident from the fact that 99 per cent cases of migration is from private to government colleges and never vice-versa.
According to a member of the MCI: ‘It’s common knowledge that admission in private medical colleges is through capitation fee. When a student from a private medical college after flexing financial muscle is shifted to a government college, he is brought at par with more meritorious students.’
The rules say migration could be allowed if medical condition of a student is disabling or there are other compelling reasons. The rules are so stringent that many candidates have to go to courts to seek the justice from MCI for migration, even from a government college to another government college.
However, there are instances where the rules have been violated with impunity to benefit the rich and the influential. ‘Four years back, an influential doctor got his son admitted to a private medical college at Mullana in Haryana. A year after his admission, the student was ‘diagnosed’ with acute pancreatitis, facilitating his transfer to PGIMS, Rohtak. It needs to be probed if the said student was ever treated for the disease he was ‘diagnosed’ with,’ said the source. ‘The same doctor now has arranged for the migration of his younger son from Subharti Medical College in Meerut to the same government college in Rohtak. Again, on medical grounds,’ the source added. The application of the said student is being considered even as the government college has stated that they do not have vacancy.
Attempts to contact both the chairman and secretary of the MCI, professors KK Talwar and S Srivastava, went in vain as they did not respond either to phone calls or text messages.
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