Shocking allegations claim fake PG Degree by ex-NMC Secretary Dr R K Vats, Complainant Questions Delayed Probe

The complainant has claimed that the MD degree that Dr Vats claims to have earned from erstwhile Kanpur University is a fake. Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is investigating the matter, adds News 18.

However, the complainant has claimed that even though necessary documents had been submitted to the Ministry back in 2020 and the matter required immediate action, the issue is being "footballed" from one table to another.

An Indian Administrative Services official from the 1986 West Bengal cadre, Vats has served as an additional secretary and financial advisor to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare along with administration of Central Government Health Scheme as Director-General and e-health programmes. He also served as the Chairman of the Drug Price Regulator, National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) from April 2018 to November 2018.

Dr. Vats had also taken charge of the erstwhile apex regular, the Medical Council of India (MCI) in 2019. He continued to be the secretary of the National Medical Commission at the time of its formation when this new body replaced the MCI. Finally, back in June 2021, he was replaced by Dr Sandhya Bhullar, IAS as the new secretary of the National Medical Commission (NMC).

Also Read: National Medical Commission: Dr RK Vats resigns as secretary, IAS Dr Sandhya Bhullar takes charge

The profile page on the website of the USA-India Chamber of Commerce describes him as an MD, which is a postgraduate medical degree that can be pursued by candidates after completion of their MBBS course. As per the data provided on the website, Dr. Vats has experience working in Radiotherapy Department for 3 years before joining the administration.

However, in a shocking allegation, it has been claimed that the PG MD degree in Radiotherapy held by the former NMC official is a fake and acting on the complaint, the Union Health Ministry is investigating the matter raised under "rule 377 in the parliament".

Speaking to News 18 regarding the matter, a government official privy to the development said, "The inquiry is going on. Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya is slated to hold a meeting soon on this subject."

As per the latest media report by News 18, the complaint against Dr. Vats was filed first in October 2020, which challenged the MD degree in Radiotherapy awarded to him back in 1985 by Kanpur University.

The daily adds that separately in a communication dated March 5, 2020, the Registrar of erstwhile Kanpur University, now Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj University stated that as per the University records, the MD Radiotherapy degree of the year 1985 with Roll No 15 was not issued by the Institute to Dr. Vats.

In fact, both the complaint and the response letter from the University allegedly claimed that the photocopy of the PG degree of Dr. Vats does not look similar to the format adopted and used by Kanpur University.

Apart from this, in the letters exchanged between the Dean of Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Memorial Medical College (GSVM Medical College) and the Registrar of Kanpur University, it has been revealed that as per the records, even though Dr. Vats had taken admission to the MD Radiotherapy course he had not completed the same.

Meanwhile, after submitting the documents back in 2020, the complainant again wrote to the Ministry and expressed his disappointment over the slow pace investigation regarding the whole issue.

In a letter, directed to the Ministry back on March 22, 2021, the complainant stated, "I had submitted a complaint with the necessary documents on 26.10.2020 along with its annexures to the office of the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India pointing out the glaring facts requiring an immediate investigation and necessary action."

He also blamed the Union Health Ministry for its slow pace investigation and termed it to be not only completely "inexplicable" but "completely unwarranted" as instead of taking immediate action into the matter, "this issue and event is being footballed from one table to the other".

"It was expected that an immediate action is initiated by your Ministry instead of permitting the gentleman concerned to continue to occupy such a high office in the National Medical Commission required to discharge significant and critical functions," the letter adds as per News 18.

Apart from blaming the slow actions of the Ministry as a result of the "the influence enjoyed by the gentleman concerned", the complaint has also questioned the intent of the Ministry in the letter.

The complainant has claimed in the letter that "there exists an unholy alliance and the conspiracy with the higher echelons of your Ministry in somehow ensuring that such a serious issue remains hidden under the carpet".

"… It does not come up for immediate necessary action thereby ensuring illegal continuation of the gentleman concerned in such high public office," the letter added.

The complainant approached the Ministry time and again and expressed his disappointment over the delay in the investigation process.

"I was confident that my complaint/communication dated 26.10.2020 would deserve an immediate investigation. However, it seems that the investigation has still not commenced," the letter said.

Labeling the matter to be "so serious", the complainant claimed in the letter that the matter didn't deserve "any delay in undertaking the investigation" for taking immediate corrective action.

"There cannot be any two opinions that the subject matter involved in this case is of extremely serious nature," the letter added.

"Your Ministry, being an expert in the subject of medical education, must have noticed that there is no methodology of awarding any marks or its percentage in the evaluation of candidates for the PG Medical Degrees," further said the letter as it referred to the fact that the passing score has been mentioned as 55% in the degree of Dr. Vats.

"It should have rung an alarm bell for undertaking an immediate investigation in the claim by Shri Rakesh Kumar Vats that he possesses a valid and legal PG Medical Degree," mentioned the complainant in the follow-up letter.

"…your Ministry ought to have embarked upon an immediate investigation which could not have taken more than one phone call made from your office to the concerned officials of the said University," further added the letter.