RAMA BARU AND ARCHANA DIWATE - Vyapam scandal and the criminalisation of medical education
The Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh has exposed the underbelly
of medical education and its criminalisation in India. The brazenness with
which entrance exams and recruitments have been conducted was only possible due
to collusion of sections of all instruments of the State – politicians,
the judiciary and bureaucracy – with businessmen, medical professionals
and even journalists. Senior members of the medical profession have been actively
involved in this scam with monetary exchange of an order that may never be
known.
After a lengthy silence, the national media is now
reporting extensively on the scam and much of the debate has focused on the
misrule of the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state. In our
view, however, Vyapam is not restricted to Madhya Pradesh. The scam is
pervasive and could well cover many other states ruled by other political
parties. Governments in other states are not above board in matters relating to
the recognition and licensing of medical colleges, conducting entrance tests,
and collecting capitation fees and bribes for admission and award of degrees.
The extensive corruption in medical education represents both a political and
an institutional crisis.
The authority of the Medical Council of India, which is the
apex regulatory body for medical education, has been systematically undermined
due to the flouting of rules for monetary gain. The MCI and the State
Medical Councils play an important role in setting and implementing guidelines
for the curriculum, entrance exams, ethical standards and practices of doctors.
However, in practice, the MCI has reneged on its responsibility to enforce
standards. It has been widely reported that an important reason for this
failure was the deep-seated corruption in the MCI over which Dr. Ketan
Desai, former council president, and members of the board presided.
One of us, Rama Baru, was a member of the Ethics Committee
of the MCI a few years ago and we are thus privy to information about
malpractices and CBI chargesheets against Ketan Desai and several private
medical colleges in south India.
In fact, our knowledge of corrupt practices in the MCI dates
back to 2001 when Desai was charged with misuse of office and the Delhi
High Court ordered his removal from the post, opining that:
“The allegations of [the] petitioner against Dr. Ketan Desai
regarding minting money stands established. He has misused his position as
President of the MCI. He is using the office for making illegal
monetary gains for himself and his family members. Prima facie a case
for prosecution of Dr. Ketan Desai on charges of corruption under the
Prevention of Corruption Act is clearly made out”.
Despite this indictment he continued to remain in office.
In 2009, Desai managed to get elected unopposed
as MCI president. In 2010, the Central Bureau of Investigation charged him with
accepting a bribe of over Rs. 2 crore for granting recognition to a private
medical college in Punjab. Soon after his arrest, the CBI also raided his
home in Gujarat and filed additional charges for having “disproportionate wealth” estimated at
around Rs. 1,800 crores.
Subsequent to this, Desai’s medical registration was
cancelled by the MCI. This received media attention and there was pressure from
civil society that led to the dissolution of the MCI by the government. The
Centre then appointed a seven member committee to oversee the functioning
of MCI, as an interim arrangement before fresh elections could be held.
It is during this period that the Ethics Committee heard
several cases of fraud in the recognition of private medical colleges and the
conduct of entrance exams in several states. The Ethics Committee had
recommended the de-recognition of these colleges and punishment for the erring
doctors. Many of these recommendations were ratified by the Board of Governors
but others were not acted upon due to the dissolution of the interim Board.
A dodgy election
In October 2013, the Centre announced the constitution
of the new MCI with a representative body. However, even though Ketan Desai’s
licence has remained
derecognised since 2010, he managed to nominate
himself from the Gujarat State Medical University. When questioned he said, ‘that the MCI has no jurisdiction or authority to
suspend the registration of any doctor registered with any state medical
council’. The elections were conducted on December 11, 2013 for the post of
president, vice president and executive/post graduate committee members and the
new MCI was constituted.
The way in which these elections were conducted amounted to
manipulation by a small mafia of doctors who had a hold over the MCI and State
Medical Councils.... read more
