NEW DELHI: A medical college in Bhopal allegedly admitted fake patients to comply with the minimum requirements of the Medical Council of India (MCI), a CBI inquiry found. Based on the findings, the Supreme Court has barred RKDF Medical College Hospital and Research Centre from admissions in first-year MBBS course for the next two years.

The apex court directed its Secretary-General to initiate prosecution against the Dean of the college, S S Kushwaha, and imposed a penalty of Rs 5 crore. The college has also been directed to refund the fee paid by the students for 2017-19 along with a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to each student. The inquiry found that the college misled the Supreme Court by manipulating and forging records.

An official stated that the declaration of the college regarding the authenticity of the patients in the hospital was found to be false in the enquiry conducted by the Committee comprising of CBI officers and medical experts.

The Central Government and MCI had pointed out gross malpractices in the college and inadequate infrastructure and patients to provide education to MBBS students before the Court. The college had; however, challenged the report.

To substantiate the allegations against the college, the Supreme Court had constituted a committee headed by a senior officer deputed by the CBI Director and two doctors of AIIMS recommended by the AIIMS Director in 2017. A preliminary enquiry was registered by the CBI and a report was submitted before the Supreme Court last year, including an opinion of AIIMS doctors.

The MCI had noted in its inspection in 2015 that the college was admitting fake patients and others without any major illness in order to grant admission for 2014-15. The matter went to several litigations in various courts before the Supreme Court constituted a committee in 2017.

The allegation was confirmed by the committee which checked medical sheets of 436 patients shown to be admitted in the hospital in September 2017 when the inspection was conducted. During inspection, it was noted that the number of patients was extremely low while medical files did not conform to the actual number of patients.

Going through the records collected by the committee, Surgical disciplines Professor in AIIMS assessed 96 medical sheets of the patients on bed in 2017 and questioned the genuineness of the patients actually admitted.

AIIMS experts in Gynecology, Oral surgery, Ophthalmic Sciences, Dermatology, Pediatrics, General Medicine, Orthopedics and ENT departments were also of the same view. The experts noted that the range of patients shown to be admitted by the college was inadequate for MBBS education.

After the report was filed before the Supreme Court, the college gave an unconditional apology to the apex court. The Court; however, stated that the unashamed way in which the college has indulged in relying upon fabricated records to mislead the court in order to get a favorable order needs to be dealt with seriously.