These doctors teach in Maharashtra medical colleges, and make extra money by being listed in the staff rolls of private medical colleges in south India
Work at one place and show phantom existence in another! Some doctors in Maharashtra have been resorting to fraud and forgery to make an extra buck.
The Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) that recently probed medical malpractices, found that several medical teachers working in the state were allowing South India-based medical colleges to use their name as teachers in return for money.
This is how it works: When a Medical Council of India (MCI) team comes to inspect the infrastructure in these private colleges, these Maharashtra-based professors will be present there. Once MCI team departs, these 'professors' rush back to their parent colleges.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the MMC have begun cracking down on such doctors.
Dr Kishor Taori, president, MMC, confirmed the news, but refused to divulge details. He said: "This is unethical. When you are already attached to a medical college as a teacher, you can't be a full time teacher in another college outside the state. To date, we have traced 11 medical colleges indulging in this malpractice. More colleges are under scrutiny. We can't divulge more as the CBI is investigating this. It is making a list of such doctors, and those found guilty will have to face the music."
MMC is a statutory body with power to suspend a doctor's licence if s/he is found guilty of malpractice. It maintains that an allopath registered in one state cannot practice without registration in another state.
This is a practice prevalent in different parts of India. There are 381 medical colleges in the country. A medical college, to maintain quality, has to appoint full-time teaching staff, but private colleges have not been getting enough qualified staff, and many don't have up-to-the-mark infrastructure.
MCI only allows a college to enrol students when it's sure there is enough staff on its rolls. To overcome this drawback, such colleges list the names of professors working in Maharashtra medical colleges in their rolls. Only once a month these 'professors' visit such colleges, which however ensure their presence during MCI inspection.
Dr Taori added: "We are now appealing to medical teachers not to indulge in such malpractices for the sake of money."
Four years ago, government hospitals in Maharashtra also used a similar technique. To get MCI recognition for its medical colleges, they would send doctors from one medical college to another to pose as faculty during MCI inspection.
Dr Avinash Supe, dean, Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College, (Sion hospital), said: "This is completely wrong. Medical teachers are doing injustice to students. The government should take strict action against such doctors."
To maintain quality of medical education across the country, the MCI is planning to set up a gradation system for medical colleges. It also plans to propose to the Union health ministry to set up an accreditation council for medical colleges.
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