Illegal MBBS seats case gives medical education system some more bad publicity
MBBS seats have put medical education in India in the spotlight for the wrong reasons again.
According to a ToI report on February 24, Delhi police is probing some officials of the National Medical Commission (NMC) and medical colleges in connection with the case. As of now, two NMC officials and four colleges are under the scanner.
In the alleged scam, the colleges in question were allowed to raise the number of seats in MBBS, MD and other courses illegally.
The police believe that money was involved. Arrests are expected to be made soon.
The scam was initially discovered by the commission last August, leading to the revocation of the forged permission letters and the launch of an inquiry. The commission also filed a complaint with the police. The Delhi Police subsequently registered an FIR under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology Act, pertaining to criminal conspiracy, cheating, and online fraud.
The complaint was filed by AK Singh, deputy secretary at the medical assessment & rating board (MARB) of the commission. Singh said the forged Letters of Permission (LOPs) were issued to various medical colleges through an official email ID (ds.marb@nmc.org.in) belonging to a deputy secretary who had previously overseen the affairs at MARB.
The official said he was shocked to learn during an internal inquiry that the letters he was purportedly sending were letting colleges increase student intake.
Further investigation revealed that another official had tampered with the
