NMC panel flags illegal superspeciality admissions at LNJP, recommends student migration, disciplinary action against officials: Report
New Delhi: In a shocking revelation, a final inquiry committee constituted by the National Medical Commission (NMC) has found that the Delhi Government-run Lok Nayak Hospital reportedly made illegal admissions to its MCh neurosurgery programme despite the withdrawal of the regulatory approval.
Accordingly, the NMC panel has recommended the migration of students and disciplinary action against officials, TOI has reported.
In its report, the Commission's committee found that the students were admitted to the MCh Neurosurgery course even after the mandatory LoP was withdrawn by NMC. According to officials, the panel also examined the irregular admissions to the DM (neuro-anaesthesia) programme and called for systemic corrections.
However, the inquiry committee reportedly concluded that the crisis in the neurosurgery department was not caused by a systemic lapse, but it was due to unilateral actions by the then head of the department.
Commenting on the matter and addressing the future of the affected students, the president of the NMC Medical Assessment and Rating Board, Dr. MK Ramesh, told TOI that the priority was to safeguard the students whose academic future was jeopardised without their fault. He added, "For the exam-going batch of MCh neurosurgery (2022-25), students will not be barred from appearing in the examination. Their degrees will be protected."
Addressing the issue of the MCh neurosurgery 2023-2026 batch, the committee recommended immediate academic migration to Govind Ballabh Pant Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, adds the daily.
As per the TOI report, the admissions for the 2024-2027 batch were declared null and void ab initio on humanitarian grounds and students will be migrated to vacant seats at recognised institutions such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences. Similarly, for the students pursuing DM Neuro-Anaesthesia (2024-2027 batch), the Committee recommended immediate migration due to the absence of a valid department and approved faculty at the institute.
Reportedly, the panel also recommended initiating major penalty proceedings and appointing an independent inquiry authority. Consequently, the report will be forwarded to the Delhi Government for action.
TOI has reported that the LoP for MCh Neurosurgery was issued in 2022. It was conditional and should have been automatically suspended after Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) informed NMC back in March 2022 and December 2022 that the statutory compliance at Lok Nayak Hospital was not possible. Consequently, NMC formally withdrew the permission on March 14, 2024 and a challenge to the decision was also rejected.
However, the related seats continued appearing on the counselling portal. According to officials, the situation escalated further when the medical counselling committee created an unusual institute code- 'HOD Neurosurgery-LNH associated with MAMC' and allowed counselling and allotment of seats even after the approval for the seats was withdrawn. The vacancies in DM Neuro-anaesthesia were also listed under the same code. Allegedly, the portal credentials were handed to the concerned HoD, who uploaded the said vacancies without getting an approval from the medical director of Lok Nayak Hospital.
When the students sought migration in fear of their admissions getting invalid, the issue surfaced again. Accordingly, the Medical Director alerted the Dean of MAMC, who informed NMC that MAMC had no administrative control, no approved faculty list and no routed proposal for running the programmes.
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