Vijayawada: 3 private medical colleges under lens for bogus seats

Vijayawada : Dr YSR University of Health Sciences, the supervising authority for medical education in the state, has opened an enquiry against three private medical colleges for allegedly producing fake permission letters from the National Medical Council (NMC) to raise the number of medical seats, an official said on Thursday.

Vice-chancellor of the university Korukonda Babji said that three medical colleges, GSL Medical College, Rajamahendravaram; Maharajah Institute of Medical Sciences (MIMS), Vizianagaram; and Shantiram Medical College, Nandyala, had indulged in this fraudulent practice.

“We called the principals of the three colleges and asked them to give their explanations. And we started the enquiry,” Babji told PTI. According to Babji, the medical university initially accepted the Letters of Permission (LoP), mistaking them to be genuinely issued by the NMC and allotted the enhanced medical seats, but had to annul them on receiving directions from the medical council that they were fake.

Due to this, the university has to redo the process of counselling (allotting seats to students in colleges, based on their preference and rank). He highlighted the case of GSL Medical College which claimed to have obtained permission to the number of MD radio diagnosis seats from 10 to 24. “We have received an LoP for 24 (seats). We have accepted and now the NMC says that it is fake. ‘Instead of 10, you are taking 24; we have not enhanced.’ We received a letter from NMC (saying) that the letter is fake,” he said, and added that he did not have the specifics on the number of seats fraudulently increased by the other two colleges.

Following the enquiry, the vice-chancellor said, the varsity will submit its findings to the government and also post updates on its website. He promised that nothing will be hidden. Though the varsity is yet to take any action on the three colleges, Babji said that NMC has filed an FIR.

He said the medical university is more worried about completing the admissions process on time. “We are worried and hurrying to do the counselling first because we have to follow NMC timelines. So, we don’t have much time for legal actions and all. We are worried about the students’ problem. We have to restart the counselling,” he said.

However, he assured that whatever action needs to be taken will be taken after completing the admissions. The unexpected development has disrupted the usual flow of activities in the varsity and also alerted aspiring students to be wary of these colleges. “In a medicos WhatsApp group where we discuss counselling and admissions and we received alerts on the fraudulent practices of GSL Medical College, we were cautioned about these bogus seats,” said a Hyderabad-based MBBS graduate waiting for post-graduate admission.

The student said that some aspirants even found online prompts during counselling to opt for these non-existent seats. NMC’s Medical Assessment & Rating Board (MARB) issued a public notice on September 5 stating that GSL Medical College had increased the number of MD-Radio Diagnosis seats from 10 to 24 based on a fake letter of the medical council, whereas no application was received from the college in the first place.

MARB deputy secretary Arun Kumar Singh clarified that no communication was sent to GSL Medical College in this regard and the forged letter cannot be considered as valid permission.