The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Medical Council show-cause to doctors for `false declaration'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 26, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Medical Council show-cause to doctors for `false declaration'

By S. Vijay Kumar

MADURAI, NOV. 25. The Medical Council of India has taken a serious note of the alleged "manipulation" of manpower during its inspection of medical colleges in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu early this year.

According to sources in the Health department, the MCI has sent show cause notices to some government and private doctors in different parts of the State seeking explanation why disciplinary action, including derecognising degrees, should not be taken against them for filing "false" declaration about their employment status.

Doctors working in other medical colleges and private hospitals were reportedly moved to the Kanyakumari, Tuticorin and Tirunelveli medical colleges during the inspection. They were not only given official identity cards as if they were permanent staff but also included in the service registers of the respective institutions.

As the MCI had already obtained the employment particulars of all government medical officers along with their photographs, verification revealed that many doctors had made a "false" declaration. Show cause notices were served straight to the individual doctors, the sources added.

Association stand

Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors' Association has decided not to entertain deputations to other medical colleges to facilitate MCI inspections in future.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the executive committee held at Tiruchi recently, the TNGDA Madurai branch president, S. Somasundaram, said.

"We discussed the implications of such temporary deputations. The Government should develop infrastructure in all medical colleges and fill vacancies," he said.

Doctors worried

A few doctors in the Madurai Medical College who went on temporary deputation to the Tuticorin Medical College to "act" as staff of that college during MCI inspection are worried over the developments. Unlike as in previous years, when the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) used to send deputation orders in writing to the Deans, this year the doctors were only given oral instructions.

In Madurai, for instance, medical equipment and doctors were taken to Tuticorin in a private bus and they were not paid any travelling allowance during the period of deputation. Similarly, doctors working in almost all medical colleges in the State were sent to the Kanyakumari, Tuticorin and Tirunelveli medical colleges during the MCI inspection this year, official sources said.

"This is becoming a regular practice. We have resolved not to co-operate with the DME with regard to temporary deputations in future. Though the Health department is justifying the action, the MCI appears concerned over the fake service records," a senior professor in the Madurai Medical College told The Hindu today.

He said a few Government doctors were also served with show cause notices by the MCI. "If the doctors are found guilty of furnishing false information, they can be stripped of their degree and debarred from medical practice," he said, adding that a representation reflecting the views of the TNGDA had been sent to the authorities concerned.

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