MCI team aghast on finding 'fake patients' at Bettiah

Bettiah: A three-member team of the Medical Council of India (MCI) that inspected the Government Medical College in Bettiah on Friday was aghast on finding fake patients on hospital beds in the women's surgical ward. "They don't look like patients....this won't do," one member quipped.
Even as the buzz of 22 Mamta workers being "admitted" erupted, the MCI team took photographs and checked the admission register.The MCI team's suspicion was aroused by this allegedly 'Munna bhai' kind of set-up as the "patients" were found "relaxing" without post-surgical accessories like administration of saline water and other usual treatments.
"Mamta or ASHA worker may have been admitted with ailments, but certainly it is not true that we admitted fake patients," principal of the college Dr Rajiv Ranjan Prasad TOI.The MCI team expressed dissatisfaction with the facilities during their inspection of the medical college.
"Today's visit by the MCI team was for compliance verification of the last inspection done in October last year," the principal said, adding that the medical college facilities have been bettered to meet the MCI guidelines. "We are confident of getting full recognition by the MCI after its fifth and final inspection," the principal added.
After its previous inspection, its third, the MCI had pointed 40 deficiencies in the medical college here and had given time for rectification.
On Friday, the MCI team visited the college, hospital, library, hostel, the primary health centre attached to the hospital, the operation theatres, labour room, out-patient department (OPD), the X-ray and other pathological and investigation facilities.
The MCI team further examined the seven newly built laboratories, the nurses hostel and also did a physical verification of the presence of teachers and doctors on duty.
The MCI inspection report assumes importance since the medical college in Bettiah awaits award of permission for admission of the fourth batch of MBBS students.
The MCI team included Dr Meenakshi Bhattacharya, Professor of Medicine at the Government Medical College, Dhule (Maharashtra), Dr APS Batra, professor of anatomy at BPS Government Medical College for Women, Sonepat (Haryana) and Dr Salim Basha Tamboli, professor and head, pharmacology at the Dr Shankar Rao Chavan Government Medical College, Nanded (Maharashtra).