Its an eerie feeling to realize that Medical Council of India no longer exists. Its like in being a war and the headquarter is bombed and razed with all the high command gone! This bit is sinking in now that there are certain bodies in the country, which cannot be disbanded! One cannot disband the police commissioners office nor the one can imagine a country without a parliament. Incumbents come and go; removed or expelled. But the organizations remain. This is a piquant situation and a gory reminder of the fact, that not only the leader was corrupt, but the whole organization was. If not, then why has it been disbanded? What is the status of clerks and permanent staff?
The implications of this will be felt for years to come. Purging was required and a correct decision has been taken to let the entire administration go. The sanctity of the Medical Council has to be restored, rather than doing away with the organization. Same 6 member council can look into each and every affair of MCI and get people transferred. new staff can be appointed.
This is a body which is recognized by medical councils of all countries of the world to communicate with regarding issues about doctors who relocate overseas. At this present juncture there is no medical body in India to communicate with! Time to tell the world that new administrators have taken over MCI and order is being restored.
I would love to have views on this topic.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
MCI’s 54-year run ends
Welcome news is that the MCI stands disbanded!. 6 member panel takes over. Hopefully this panel takes the view of many to formulate the new policies of a new board. Lets wish them well!
Inspections By MCI
MCI has published a set of guidelines to set up or maintain a medical college depending upon the number of students taken in each class. To ensure these are maintained, annual inspections are undertaken by MCI for upcoming colleges and an inspection every 5 years for the established colleges. I reckon it is a good system. If at all there should be issues, that should be what is in the guidelines!
However, the conduct of these inspections has come under the scanner, and rightfully so. I will not go into each and every detail of acts of commission or omission during these inspections to ensure that this blog is crisp, I expect readers to put in their comments. My views here are based on conversations I have had with colleagues in institutes which have been inspected over the last decade and could be termed hearsay, but are genuine bits of information I recall!
These inspections are announced at a very short notice and thus do not allow an institute to recall its employees on leave or on academic trips. This results in staff shortage on 'face presentation' and thus disqualify an organization. This rule only applies to a private organization; medical colleges run by the government are exempt from this rule.
The inpectors do not make their own arrangements of lodging and boarding; arrangements have to be made by the college being inpected and lot of these colleges put them in 5 star facilities which in legal parlence is trying to influence the inspectors.
The colleges bring in bogus patients during the inspections, thus filling up beds and falsely showing the hospital to be full. Likewise fictitious medical records are created to show the required average bed occupancy. The only way to pick up this fraud is surprise inspection.
There are other issues which relate to the guidelines and thus would be a subject of another blog. I expect readers to put in their views about these inspections.
However, the conduct of these inspections has come under the scanner, and rightfully so. I will not go into each and every detail of acts of commission or omission during these inspections to ensure that this blog is crisp, I expect readers to put in their comments. My views here are based on conversations I have had with colleagues in institutes which have been inspected over the last decade and could be termed hearsay, but are genuine bits of information I recall!
These inspections are announced at a very short notice and thus do not allow an institute to recall its employees on leave or on academic trips. This results in staff shortage on 'face presentation' and thus disqualify an organization. This rule only applies to a private organization; medical colleges run by the government are exempt from this rule.
The inpectors do not make their own arrangements of lodging and boarding; arrangements have to be made by the college being inpected and lot of these colleges put them in 5 star facilities which in legal parlence is trying to influence the inspectors.
The colleges bring in bogus patients during the inspections, thus filling up beds and falsely showing the hospital to be full. Likewise fictitious medical records are created to show the required average bed occupancy. The only way to pick up this fraud is surprise inspection.
There are other issues which relate to the guidelines and thus would be a subject of another blog. I expect readers to put in their views about these inspections.
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