MCI has resorted to taking strict
measures against the medical colleges and the doctors-who pose as ghost
faculty, during inspection visit to colleges. A penalty can be imposed
on such doctors, on the grounds of misleading and supplying incorrect
information.
The decision was taken in the last
meeting of MCI executive committee recently. It also has also written to
state governments, to not allow any transfer of faculty from one
college to another, for the purpose of MCI assessments. The council
implied this in context of transferring of faculty (from one college to
another) for filling up faculty positions during the assessment.
MCI has also suggested that the name
of Dean, HOD, and the doctor concerned, involved in such malpractices,
be removed from the Indian Medical Register (IMR) for a year.
A heavy punishment is likely to be
imposed for showing fake documents, or in case of posing a non-medical
person as a medical teacher or resident. If it happens during the
assessment, then Dean, HOD, doctor, and the resident concerned will be
removed from IMR for three years. Besides, an FIR will be filed against
the person for posing as faculty.
The aforementioned situation in all its
probability is likely to pose difficulties for district level medical
colleges and general hospitals in any state. As implied in a media
report, more often than not the state government is challenged by these
factors i.e. shortage of faculty, or lack of infrastructure. It is
exactly during this time, when the government resorts to redeploying
staff from one college to another, temporarily during MCI inspection.
A doctor may also be censored from the
services, as in a case of maximum punishment given for the offence. A
case in 2012, led to removal of 32 doctors in a private medical college
in Tamil Nadu by MCI. They were removed for 3-5 years from the State and
national medical registers.
“The MCI has made it clear that the
norms would be no different for government doctors. Not just the doctors
who are transferred, but the Director of Medical Education (DME) who
issues the transfer orders or “temporary redeployment orders” for the
purpose of managing MCI assessments in medical colleges could face
penalty,” a senior doctor and health activist pointed out to the Hindu.
A similar incident was reported in
Idukki and Palakkad government medical colleges last year, when the
state of Tamil Nadu was on the verge of losing 150 seats. However, it
was only after the intervention of the health ministry, on request of
the state government to give it more time to address the shortage, did
the matter get sorted.
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