These inspections are conducted to evaluate whether a medical college meets the standards required to receive approval for establishing a new institution or increasing its MBBS intake. According to the TOI report, in many cases, these hospitals succeed in deceiving the assessment teams.
Recently, there have been multiple reports of medical colleges hiring fake or non-serious patients to meet the minimum standards necessary for obtaining a license or expanding their MBBS seats.
In response to this issue, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has issued its first-ever detailed guidelines to help inspectors identify fake patients, noted the report.
According to the NMC guidelines, one of the key indicators of fake admissions is a sudden surge in the number of patients admitted just before or on the day of the assessment.
If these patients suffer from conditions that could easily be treated in an outpatient department (OPD) with oral medications, they should be flagged as potential fake admissions. TOI reported that , another red flag is the absence of any supporting evidence for investigations, such as X-rays or blood tests, before or after the admission.In pediatric wards, the NMC guidelines specifically point out that a large number of children who appear unusually cheerful and healthy without any significant medical concerns could indicate fake patients. For example, during an inspection of a medical college in Maharashtra that applied to increase its MBBS intake, assessors found that all the children in the pediatric ward were “hale and hearty,” which raised suspicions.Additional warning signs include the admission of multiple patients from the same family or patients who are admitted through preventive health checkups or camps, which might suggest fraudulent practices.
The practice of admitting fake patients to fulfill bed occupancy or other requirements has long been a problem. If assessors find such irregularities during inspections, it will be deemed a violation of NMC guidelines, said the TOI report.
This issue has led to penalties in the past; in 2019, the Supreme Court banned a medical college in Bhopal from admitting new students for two years after it was found guilty of admitting fake patients.
