Bengaluru: How do you fulfill the stringent guidelines prescribed by the Medical Council of India (MCI) to get permission to start a medical college in the country, based on the patient turnout? Simple! Hire some people, tell them to act like patients when the MCI inspectors arrive to inspect the teaching hospital.
According to the documents accessed by Deccan Chronicle, at least two new medical colleges of the state resorted to this tactic. But the MCI inspectors were easily able to see through their game. Interestingly these two colleges got permissions from the union health ministry to admit students! As per the minutes of the MCI executive committee meeting held on May 13, two medical colleges from the state had tried this trick.
The first college in the dock is Akash Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Centre, Devanahalli, Bengaluru, which has been sanctioned 150 MBBS seats. Out of these 150 seats, 38 were under government quota.
According to the MCI executive committee meeting minutes (point number 4), many ‘patients’ who were not genuine and did not require admission were admitted in wards of general medicine, general surgery, O.G, TB & Chest, skin and VD and orthopaedics.
In the general medicine ward, a patient named Satish (Reg no: 51007) was admitted on February 24 without any diagnosis being done or treatment being undertaken and he stayed on till March 11. He seemed healthy.
The second medical college under the scanner is Sridevi Institute of Medical Sciences, Tumakuru, which was sanctioned 150 MBBS seats. Out of these 60 were marked as the government quota seat. According to the MCI meeting minutes, when the assessors reached the institute there were very few patients at the registration counters.
However at around 12.30 pm many seemingly healthy people were brought in as ‘camp patients’. The patient admission data provided by the institute was inflated. According to the officials at the state medical education department, this is not the case with just two medical colleges.
“Most of the private colleges are allegedly managing their ‘patients’. Last year, a college from Dakshina Kannada district allegedly engaged its students to act as patients. Another college used its workers to pose as patients. If colleges ensure quality medical care at an affordable cost, they do not need to engage in all this drama,” the officials said.
