Report on college canned

Dec. 27: The Post Graduate Committee (PGC) of Medical Council of India (MCI) has decided to cancel a report submitted by one of its inspectors who was offered air tickets by a medical college in Mangalore while on an inspection to check college facilities. The college had sought an increase in the intake for its MS (Ophthalmology) course from the academic year 2010-11.
According to sources, MCI has decided to conduct a fresh inspection immediately as Father Muller Medical College in Mangalore had adopted an unethical practice by offering air tickets to the inspector.
Sources said that MCI inspector Dr Ravi Kumar, a resident of Chennai, visited the college on October 23 to check the availability of faculty and teaching facilities need for the increased intake of students. A senior MCI officer said “Though Dr Ravi Kumar is from Chennai, air tickets for his visit to the college were purchased from Mangalore, where the institute is located. The issue came to the notice of the MCI during the scrutiny of documents provided by the inspector before the PGC meeting. According to prima facie evidence, the college provided air tickets to the inspector to secure a positive inspection report so that it could increase the annual intake for the course.”
Though college authorities remained tight-lipped on the MCI decision, many feel that this is only the tip of the iceberg. Speaking to this newspaper, the principal of a medical college said “This is an old practice. MCI should initiate action against the erring inspector instead of the college as inspectors usually demand favours for a positive report and the colleges have to give in. Both the college and the inspector are guilty but PGC has initiated action only against the college which is not right.”
“MCI officials are well aware of how documents are forged in private medical colleges which include the patient list and rank list. With such gimmicks, MCI is trying to show that it is tough on corruption. It needs to do a more to achieve this image” said a senior DME officer on the condition of anonymity.