2 NMC Officials, 4 Medical Colleges facing probe by Delhi Police over Increase of MBBS, PG Medical Seats with fake LoPs: Report
New Delhi: At least two senior officials of the National Medical Commission (NMC) and four medical colleges are facing an investigation by the Delhi Police in connection with an alleged scam in which some of the medical colleges were granted permission to increase the number of MBBS and Postgraduate medical courses illegally.
Commenting on the matter, a senior police official informed TOI that the Delhi Police is likely to make arrests soon.
Allegedly forged Letters of Permission were used by medical colleges seeking to increase their intake capacity and consequently, they were allowed to do so.
Even though such LoPs issued were forged, they were made to appear genuine by using the official email ids which the concerned institutions were intimated.
As per the latest media report by the Times of India, those involved in the scam allegedly also made changes on the website to make those LoPs seem genuine. The Daily adds that the police suspect a quid pro quo, mostly monetary consideration, was involved as an exchange for the increase of seats.
Referring to this, an official aware of the investigation added, "However, the details can be confirmed only after arrests are made and suspects are interrogated."
The source further informed the Daily that the fraudulent activity was detected by NMC last year in August. Thereafter, the Commission removed the permission letters and carried out an inquiry and also filed a complaint with the police.
Based on the complaint, Police filed an FIR under IPC sections pertaining to criminal conspiracy and cheating and Section 66C of the Information Technology Act.
The complaint was filed by the Deputy Secretary at the Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) of NMC, AK Singh, who reported that forged LoPs were being issued to various medical colleges using the official email ID (ds.marb@nmc.org.in). This email ID belongs to an official of the rank of deputy secretary who previously had been looking after the affairs at MARB.
However, during the course of an internal inquiry, when the concerned official was told about the letters he had purportedly sent allowing the colleges to increase the intake of students for various courses, he was shocked. It has also come to light during the probe that another official had changed the website to suggest that the permissions given were genuine.
Meanwhile, last year, NMC issued a notice and asked colleges not to consider those permission letters as valid. Noting the issuance of fake/forged Letter of Permission (LoP) claiming an increase of MD and MS seats, NMC MARB issued clarification regarding the same.
Initially, in its communication published on its website, NMC had clarified regarding the fake/forged Letter of Renewals and Letter of Permission issued to Meenakshi Medical College, Kanchipuram, and Santhiram Medical College, Kurnool respectively.
These forged letters claimed to be issued on behalf of the Member/President of MARB. In respect of Meenakshi Medical College, Kanchipuram, the fake letter was issued regarding the renewal of permission for the MBBS course for the 4th Batch (3rd renewal) on 01.05.2023.
Another three fake letters were issued to Santhiram Medical College, Kurnool for an increase of Postgraduate Medical Seats in three specialties including MS-Ophthalmology, MD General Medicine, and MS ENT.
Referring to this, NMC mentioned in the notice dated 29.08.2023, "It has come to the notice of Medical Assessment and Rating Board(MARB) of National Medical Commission that a forged/fake letter has been issued to Meenakshi Medical College, Kanchipuram regarding renewal of Permission for MBBS course for 4th Batch (3 renewal) on 01.05.2023 on behalf of Member/President, MARB whereas another three letters dated 12.07.2023 and 13.07.2023 were issued to Santhiram Medical College, Kurnool for increase of seats in MS- Ophthalmology for 05 to 10 seats, MD- General Medicine from 07 to 24 and MS- ENT for 01 to 04 seats."
"lt is clarified that the above said letters have not been issued by the Member/President, MARB. These letters are forged/fake and cannot be considered as valid permission form Medical Assessment and Rating Board, National Medical Commission," NMC had mentioned in the notice.
Allegations of corruption in the Health and Medical Education sector is not new. The erstwhile Medical Council of India was also labelled with such allegations of corruption and scams. In fact, taking note of all these factors, the scam-tainted MCI got replaced by NMC in 2020.
As per the NMC Act, the Medical Assessment and Rating Board assesses medical colleges and develops a ranking system for them. However, now allegations of corruptions are being levelled against the National Medical Commission as well. In fact, the Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) of NMC has now been charged for granting recognition to private medical colleges even though the colleges lack proper infrastructure and faculty requirements.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that last year in April, top NMC officials had landed in trouble as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) started investigating the cash-for-clearance allegations against NMC.
The investigation started after the Union Health Minister received several complaints of corruption against the NMC officials and the Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) and therefore he ordered a cleanup in the process of granting of recognition to the private medical colleges in the country
Earlier, during the surprise checks of the Private medical colleges, the Health Ministry officials had found that despite lacking proper infrastructure, faculties and required facilities the colleges were getting approvals by stage-managing the inspections.
