Dubious Deal:K'taka medical colleges buy patients for Rs 500

Bangalore, Nov 19: Malpractices in private

colleges in

has crossed all its limits. Apparently, most of the private medical colleges in Karnataka 'buy' patients. This shocking piece of information was revealed by none other than state medical education minister SA Ramadas himself.

Ramadas said most of the medical college hospitals bring fake patients to hospitals and 'admit' them to present before the committee sent by the Medical Council of India (MCI) for annual inspection.

"The colleges pay Rs 500 per person to act as a patient and produce them before the committee," Ramadas said. "Sometimes two to three hospitals exchange the patients just to satisfy the MCI norms. I raised this issue in the recent conference held in Delhi. Not just the patients, the colleges even exchange teaching and non-teaching staff. This is really a fraudulent act."

In fact, the 'buying' of patients was one of the major issues discussed at a conference of health and medical education held in Delhi on Nov 1 and 2. Many participants at the conference said all medical colleges must be told to put in-patient information online to check such unethical practices.

"It has been suggested that income declaration certificates be collected from the teaching staff and put on websites," Ramdas said. "This will definitely prevent the exchange of faculties by many colleges."

But the question is: What is the government doing to put an end to such dubious practices?

OneIndia News