India probes graft charges against medical council chief
This article was originally published in Scrip
India is probing charges of alleged corruption against the president of the Medical Council of India (MCI), Dr Ketan Desai.
Dr Desai and several others (not members of the MCI) were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation last week, on charges of accepting a bribe of Rs20 million ($450,500) for allegedly granting recognition to a medical college in Punjab. More allegations of amassing disproportionate wealth have since emerged against Dr Desai.
Local media reports say that India's health minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, has now set up a three-member team to probe these allegations. The additional secretary of the health and family welfare department, K Desiraju, has been asked to head the team. A report in The Indian Express also claimed that India's Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, has now sought a detailed report on the case involving Dr Desai.
Industry experts, who did not want to be identified, claimed that it was ironic that "someone who went about campaigning" against the practice of medical practitioners accepting gifts from the pharmaceutical industry should himself be facing accusations of accepting a bribe. "It erodes the credibility of the MCI to some extent and its attempts to regulate the actions of physicians," one expert said.
Last December, the MCI amended the Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics Regulations 2002, stating that medical practitioners should not accept gifts, travel facilities, hospitality and so on from the pharmaceutical industry. Subsequently, Dr Desai is also said to have written to the Indian government seeking similar regulations for the pharmaceutical industry, so that the MCI's amended regulations could be implemented effectively (scripnews.com, 19 March 2010).