Rs 10 lakh bribe for ‘positive report’ costs Karnataka private medical college its UG, PG seats

An attempt to gain a positive image via unethical methods has resulted in a huge loss for a private medical college in Karnataka as the National Medical Commission (NMC) has said no to new courses, increase in seats, as well as renewal of existing number of seats. The commission cracked down on the college after an assessor was arrested taking a bribe of Rs 10 lakh from the institute for providing a positive assessment report after inspection.

In view of the incident, NMC has asked all medical colleges and institutes to adhere to the rules and regulations strictly and to uphold the ‘ethos’ of medical education, professionalism, and trust.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), in May, reported about the arrest of a senior doctor working as an assessor with NMC, that followed a First Information Report (FIR) against some assessors, college authorities, and unknown persons. The matter is currently being investigated.

Besides stripping the college of the approval for new MBBS seats, the commission has decided to blacklist the said doctor, pending probe and the final verdict in the case, taking a serious note of the incident.

“As an exemplary action, it has been decided that the renewal of the existing number of seats of the said college in Under-graduate and Postgraduate courses shall not be done for the AY 2025-26. Further, the application for increase of seats and starting of new courses for both UG & PG received by the Medical Assessment & Rating Board for AY 2025-26 shall be cancelled and not processed further,” said NMC.

Medical college faculty as ‘assessors’

The commission clarified that these assessors are not appointed by the NMC but are pooled in from government medical colleges across the country and randomly assigned for conducting inspections. They are senior faculty members who themselves volunteer to conduct period checking of the medical institutes on the behalf of the commission which delegates them.

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The commission asserted its commitment towards upholding the integrity and maintaining transparency and expressed zero tolerance towards corruption. “...any such untoward incident by any person or medical institution is being dealt by the Commission as per relevant penal provisions of the NMC Act and the Regulations made therein under,” it stated.

As per the NMC rules and regulations, the commission can impose monetary penalty, withhold processing of applications for any scheme for the concerned year, reduce the number of students in the subsequent years, stop admissions to one or more courses, recommend action against the concerned assessor for violation.