CBI Inspection Bribery Case: NMC blacklists 4 doctors, cancels seat approvals at 6 medical colleges
National Medical Commission (NMC)
New Delhi: Stepping up action in the alleged widespread inspection bribery scam that rocked the medical education sector in the country, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has now blacklisted 4 more assessors and cancelled approvals for MBBS and PG medical seats at 6 medical colleges.
The action comes in the backdrop of the ongoing probe launched by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) exposing a deeply embedded corruption racket operating from within the Union Health Ministry and National Medical Commission (NMC), wherein dozens of substandard medical colleges across India were gaining official recognition despite failing basic requirements.
"The Central Bureau of Investigation had reported at the start of this month that the agency had filed an FIR No. RC2182025A0014 dated 30-06-2025 under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, against 04 Senior doctors working as Assessors with the National Medical Commission, some medical colleges and private persons. The matter is currently under investigation," the NMC mentioned in its recently issued notification.
NMC's strict Action
In response to the unethical practices and misconduct allegations, the NMC has blacklisted all four Assessors named in the case, pending the outcome of the ongoing investigation and the court’s final verdict.
"It is reiterated that the Commission views such matters very seriously and has decided to blacklist the said 04 Assessors, pending investigation and final verdict in the matter," the NMC stated.
Seat Renewal, Permissions cancelled at 6 Medical Colleges:
In addition to action against the Assessors, the NMC has also penalised six medical colleges implicated in the investigation. These institutions will not be granted renewal of their MBBS and PG medical seats for the academic year 2025-26, and the applications for new medical seats at these institutes have also been cancelled.
"It has been also decided that the renewal of existing number of UG & PG seats of 06 medical colleges in Under-graduate and Post-graduate courses shall not be done for the AY 2025-26. Further, the application for increase of seats and starting of new courses for both UG & PG received by the Medical Assessment & Rating Board for AY 2025-26 from these colleges shall be cancelled and not processed further," the NMC notification read.
Earlier, in a similar action, the apex medical commission blacklisted a senior doctor and imposed sanctions on a Karnataka-based medical college.
NMC's Message:
The apex medical regulator has further urged all medical colleges and stakeholders to conform strictly to the NMC Rules and Regulations and uphold the ethos of quality medical education, professionalism and public trust.
Medical Dialogues has been extensively reporting on the inspection bribery scam, which is being dubbed India’s biggest medical education scam. In its investigation, the CBI uncovered a massive criminal conspiracy involving ministry officials, NMC assessors, middlemen, and medical college administrators. The network allegedly manipulated inspection process, leaked confidential regulatory data, and accepted bribes running into crores to facilitate fraudulent approvals for medical institutions across six states.
How the Scam Was Engineered from Inside the Health Ministry
At the heart of the scheme were eight officials from the Health Ministry, who allegedly formed a covert unit within the government to provide illegal access to confidential files and regulatory updates. Named in the FIR are- Poonam Meena, Dharamvir, Piyush Malyan, Anup Jaiswal, Rahul Srivastava, Deepak, Manisha and Chandan Kumar.
These officials are accused of photographing internal documents and sharing sensitive information- including inspection schedules, file notings, and the identities of designated assessors-with intermediaries linked to private medical colleges. In return, they allegedly accepted bribes routed through hawala and legal channels.
How Colleges Used Leaked Data to Stage Fake Compliance
According to the CBI FIR, the pre-inspection leaks enabled colleges to fabricate conditions of compliance before assessors even arrived:
Ghost faculty were temporarily employed or impersonated
Fake patients were admitted to appear as operational hospitals
Tampered biometric systems were used to fake attendance records
Assessors were bribed or misled into giving favourable reports.
"Such prior disclosures have enabled medical colleges to orchestrate fraudulent arrangements, including the bribing of assessors to secure favourable inspection reports, the deployment of non-existent or proxy faculty (ghost faculty), and the admission of fictitious patients to artificially project compliance during inspections, and tampering with the biometric attendance systems to falsify," the FIR said.
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