NMC blacklists 4 assessors, stops renewal of existing seats in 6 medical colleges amid bribery probe

The NMC had already put on hold the process for increasing the number of seats or starting new courses when the investigation started. The CBI uncovered a corruption scandal that manipulated the regulatory framework governing medical colleges. This included alleged unauthorised sharing of classified regulatory information, manipulation of statutory inspection processes, and widespread bribery to secure favourable treatment for private institutions.

In one of the cases detailed in the FIR, a medical college received a four-day heads-up for an upcoming surprise inspection, along with the names of the assessors. Such a heads-up gives the colleges time to make fraudulent arrangements, such as bribing the assessors, deploying ghost faculty, admitting fictitious patients, and tampering with the biometric attendance systems for faculty attendance. In this case, the assessors allegedly accepted the bribe.

Earlier, the Indian Express had reported that vacancies at key posts in the body affected its ability to conduct inspections of new medical colleges, as well as those due for renewal. These regular inspections are conducted to flag deficiencies in infrastructure, faculty, and the requisite number of patients needed to train doctors.

“The commission will conduct a virtual inspection or go through the self-declared information that the colleges have presented,” said a senior official in the know of the matter.

The virtual inspection involves reviewing CCTV camera feeds from strategic locations in the college and analysing biometric attendance records of faculty members. The CBI FIR details the use of silicon fingerprints to trick the biometric attendance system.