Representational imageAlappuzha: The middlemen who arrange Medical Council of India (MCI) affiliation to colleges are doing a hefty business in Kerala by being in New Delhi. They contact the officials of various government and private medical colleges in the state through their representatives. They demand Rs 3 crore as their fee for an affiliation. Each college should also pay up Rs 50 lakh for advance information on 'surprise inspection' of the council.
The middlemen also promise 'money-back' if they fail to secure the affiliation. Besides private medical colleges, government medical colleges are also being targeted by the Delhi-based network. This racket makes the college authorities believe that they enjoy a very cozy relationship with the high and mighty of the MCI.
The 'full package' offered by the affiliation racket would also include setting up of infrastructure requirements as stipulated by the MCI. These agencies would also make it sure that the crucial amenities are in place in colleges to convince the MCI inspection team.
The middlemen's good times started when the MCI introduced surprise inspections in the place of the earlier practice of visiting the colleges after an official intimation. Earlier, the medical colleges used to cheat the MCI by arranging ad hoc facilities when the council representatives made pre-informed visits to examine the infrastructure and amenities of the college. The colleges also used to hire doctors from other medical colleges for the day alone to present before the inspection team.
To bypass this, the medical council introduced surprise inspections. But the colleges and the middlemen still managed to outsmart every attempt by the council to clean up the system.
Then the racket started getting hold of the details of the surprise visits from the leaked out information of the travel plans, flight tickets and hotel booking of the MCI team. In some north Indian states, private medical colleges even resorted to trafficking patients from faraway hospitals in buses to fill the hospital beds just ahead of the surprise checks.
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