Govt bans 32 private medical colleges from admitting students for two years

• The Union health ministry has banned 32 private medical colleges from admitting students for two years, overruling a Supreme Court panel that had cleared their alleged substandard facilities.
• The ministry also forfeited the colleges’ security deposit of Rs 2 crore each. It has, however, allowed 4,000 undergraduate students to continue studying at these institutes.
• “We based our decision on the inspection report which highlighted gross deficiency of facilities. But the decision will not impact students already studying,” Arun Singhal, joint secretary, health and family welfare, told Hindustan Times.
• Singhal did not explain why the government allowed the colleges that it found “unfit” to continue.

In May 2016, the Supreme Court appointed a three-member Oversight Committee (OC), headed by former chief justice ML Lodha, to check alleged corruption in the Medical Council of India, which regulates such studies, and suggest ways to improve standards.

By the time the court panel was constituted, the MCI had completed inspecting 109 new colleges that had applied to admit medical students in 2016. The MCI allowed only 17 colleges.

Govt bans 32 private medical colleges from admitting students for two years

• The Union health ministry has banned 32 private medical colleges from admitting students for two years, overruling a Supreme Court panel that had cleared their alleged substandard facilities.
• The ministry also forfeited the colleges’ security deposit of Rs 2 crore each. It has, however, allowed 4,000 undergraduate students to continue studying at these institutes.
• “We based our decision on the inspection report which highlighted gross deficiency of facilities. But the decision will not impact students already studying,” Arun Singhal, joint secretary, health and family welfare, told Hindustan Times.
• Singhal did not explain why the government allowed the colleges that it found “unfit” to continue.

In May 2016, the Supreme Court appointed a three-member Oversight Committee (OC), headed by former chief justice ML Lodha, to check alleged corruption in the Medical Council of India, which regulates such studies, and suggest ways to improve standards.

By the time the court panel was constituted, the MCI had completed inspecting 109 new colleges that had applied to admit medical students in 2016. The MCI allowed only 17 colleges.

But the panel reviewed the MCI’s decision and permitted 34 more colleges to take in students. This set the panel on a collision course with the MCI.

The panel allowed these colleges based on an “undertaking” from them that they will fulfill all criteria. It said if they fail a fresh inspection the colleges will be banned for two years and they will forfeit their deposits.

Following this, a joint four-member inspection team of the Oversight Committee and MCI visited these colleges between November and December and found them “grossly deficient in basic facilities”.

The MCI recommended banning 32 colleges. However, just a day before the court panel’s mandate was to run out on May 15, it reversed the MCI recommendations, permitting 26 colleges to admit students and suggesting fresh inspection of the remaining six.

In at least two instances, the committee overruled staff deficiencies by accepting the colleges’ plea that the staff had gone to exchange old banknotes after demonetisation.

In defence of its decision, the panel cited “numerous instances of violation” of inspection guidelines by the joint team.

The MCI dismissed the allegation.

“It will be unfair to say that MCI did not adhere to the OC guidelines. The MCI has engaged the assessors from the OC panel and OC recommended institution in every team,” said Jayshree Mehta, president of the MCI.

The court panel members didn’t respond to HT’s email about the ministry’s decision.

“We looked at the inspection report of the MCI and the OC’s comment on that and made a decision,” Singhal said.

Most of the private colleges called the ban discriminatory and illegal.

“Last year, the OC allowed 34 colleges to admit students and put in place a proper mechanism to inspect the facilities, but the MCI has grossly violated that process. It failed 32 colleges deliberately. It is witch-hunting,” a promoter of a private college said.

Students said they felt victimised.

“If the government thinks that these colleges don’t have facilities then we should be shifted to approved colleges immediately,” a student from a private college said.

They fear the ban will discourage colleges from improving facilities, impacting their studies.

Govt bans 32 private medical colleges from admitting students for two years

• The Union health ministry has banned 32 private medical colleges from admitting students for two years, overruling a Supreme Court panel that had cleared their alleged substandard facilities.
• The ministry also forfeited the colleges’ security deposit of Rs 2 crore each. It has, however, allowed 4,000 undergraduate students to continue studying at these institutes.
• “We based our decision on the inspection report which highlighted gross deficiency of facilities. But the decision will not impact students already studying,” Arun Singhal, joint secretary, health and family welfare, told Hindustan Times.
• Singhal did not explain why the government allowed the colleges that it found “unfit” to continue.

In May 2016, the Supreme Court appointed a three-member Oversight Committee (OC), headed by former chief justice ML Lodha, to check alleged corruption in the Medical Council of India, which regulates such studies, and suggest ways to improve standards.

By the time the court panel was constituted, the MCI had completed inspecting 109 new colleges that had applied to admit medical students in 2016. The MCI allowed only 17 colleges.

But the panel reviewed the MCI’s decision and permitted 34 more colleges to take in students. This set the panel on a collision course with the MCI.

The panel allowed these colleges based on an “undertaking” from them that they will fulfill all criteria. It said if they fail a fresh inspection the colleges will be banned for two years and they will forfeit their deposits.

Following this, a joint four-member inspection team of the Oversight Committee and MCI visited these colleges between November and December and found them “grossly deficient in basic facilities”.

The MCI recommended banning 32 colleges. However, just a day before the court panel’s mandate was to run out on May 15, it reversed the MCI recommendations, permitting 26 colleges to admit students and suggesting fresh inspection of the remaining six.

In at least two instances, the committee overruled staff deficiencies by accepting the colleges’ plea that the staff had gone to exchange old banknotes after demonetisation.

In defence of its decision, the panel cited “numerous instances of violation” of inspection guidelines by the joint team.

The MCI dismissed the allegation.

“It will be unfair to say that MCI did not adhere to the OC guidelines. The MCI has engaged the assessors from the OC panel and OC recommended institution in every team,” said Jayshree Mehta, president of the MCI.

The court panel members didn’t respond to HT’s email about the ministry’s decision.

“We looked at the inspection report of the MCI and the OC’s comment on that and made a decision,” Singhal said.

Most of the private colleges called the ban discriminatory and illegal.

“Last year, the OC allowed 34 colleges to admit students and put in place a proper mechanism to inspect the facilities, but the MCI has grossly violated that process. It failed 32 colleges deliberately. It is witch-hunting,” a promoter of a private college said.

Students said they felt victimised.

“If the government thinks that these colleges don’t have facilities then we should be shifted to approved colleges immediately,” a student from a private college said.



They fear the ban will discourage colleges from improving facilities, impacting their studies.

Govt bans 32 private medical colleges from admitting students for two years

• The Union health ministry has banned 32 private medical colleges from admitting students for two years, overruling a Supreme Court panel that had cleared their alleged substandard facilities.
• The ministry also forfeited the colleges’ security deposit of Rs 2 crore each. It has, however, allowed 4,000 undergraduate students to continue studying at these institutes.
• “We based our decision on the inspection report which highlighted gross deficiency of facilities. But the decision will not impact students already studying,” Arun Singhal, joint secretary, health and family welfare, told Hindustan Times.
• Singhal did not explain why the government allowed the colleges that it found “unfit” to continue.

In May 2016, the Supreme Court appointed a three-member Oversight Committee (OC), headed by former chief justice ML Lodha, to check alleged corruption in the Medical Council of India, which regulates such studies, and suggest ways to improve standards.

By the time the court panel was constituted, the MCI had completed inspecting 109 new colleges that had applied to admit medical students in 2016. The MCI allowed only 17 colleges.

But the panel reviewed the MCI’s decision and permitted 34 more colleges to take in students. This set the panel on a collision course with the MCI.

The panel allowed these colleges based on an “undertaking” from them that they will fulfill all criteria. It said if they fail a fresh inspection the colleges will be banned for two years and they will forfeit their deposits.

Following this, a joint four-member inspection team of the Oversight Committee and MCI visited these colleges between November and December and found them “grossly deficient in basic facilities”.

The MCI recommended banning 32 colleges. However, just a day before the court panel’s mandate was to run out on May 15, it reversed the MCI recommendations, permitting 26 colleges to admit students and suggesting fresh inspection of the remaining six.

In at least two instances, the committee overruled staff deficiencies by accepting the colleges’ plea that the staff had gone to exchange old banknotes after demonetisation.
In defence of its decision, the panel cited “numerous instances of violation” of inspection guidelines by the joint team.

The MCI dismissed the allegation.

“It will be unfair to say that MCI did not adhere to the OC guidelines. The MCI has engaged the assessors from the OC panel and OC recommended institution in every team,” said Jayshree Mehta, president of the MCI.

The court panel members didn’t respond to HT’s email about the ministry’s decision.

“We looked at the inspection report of the MCI and the OC’s comment on that and made a decision,” Singhal said.

Most of the private colleges called the ban discriminatory and illegal.

“Last year, the OC allowed 34 colleges to admit students and put in place a proper mechanism to inspect the facilities, but the MCI has grossly violated that process. It failed 32 colleges deliberately. It is witch-hunting,” a promoter of a private college said.

Students said they felt victimised.

“If the government thinks that these colleges don’t have facilities then we should be shifted to approved colleges immediately,” a student from a private college said.



They fear the ban will discourage colleges from improving facilities, impacting their studies.

New dental colleges to come up at 11 campuses across Maharashtra

Three-and-a-half decades after the last government dental college and hospital was established, the Maharashtra government is planning to start such institutions in state-run medical colleges.

Senior officials from the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) said they were considering new government dental colleges at the premises of 11 medical colleges in Pune, Dhule, Ambejogai (Beed), Latur, Nanded, Yavatmal, Akola, Chandrapur, Gondia, Miraj and Kolhapur.

A dental college has also been proposed at the Greenfield medical hub at Jalgaon, which will offer courses in medicine, dentistry, ayurveda, homeopathy, nursing and paramedics. With each dental college likely to have 100 seats, these facilities may have an intake of 1,200 seats for the Bachelors in Dentistry (BDS) course.

PG medical courses will have no quota this year in Haryana

Medical colleges in Haryana, as per the state government rules, will have no reservation for students belonging to the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes and backwards classes in admission to the postgraduate courses (MD/MS/PG Diploma and MDS) this year.

A proposal in November 2016 by Department of Medical Education and Research (DMER) suggesting reservation of seats for admission to the PG courses for the 2017-18 session, has been turned down by the state government of Haryana. Since there is not much time left for the new academic session, the government has decided that the issue must be examined in details before putting up orders the next academic year.

The decision was taken at a meeting held recently at the CM’s residence, which was attended, among others, by AG Baldev Raj Mahajan and Additional Chief Secretary (DMER) Dhanpat Singh.

Sources said the government had taken this decision on the opinion given by Advocate-General Baldev Raj Mahajan, who stated that since there were limited seats in the PG courses and no reservation had been provided in the state since 1971, the issues involved required a detailed examination.

CBI books Dental Council head Dibyendu Mazumdar for allegedly using corrupt means to retain the post

The Central Bureau of Investigation has booked Dental Council of India (DCI) president Dibyendu Mazumdar, along with the chairman of a dental college, a former vice-chancellor of a university and others, for allegedly using corrupt means to retain the post for the second term.

Those named in the FIR are Dr. Mazumdar, Vananchal Dental College and Hospital (Garhwa, Jharkhand) chairman Dinesh Prasad Singh, former vice-chancellor of Nilamber Pitamber University (Palamu) Firoz Ahmad, former DCI officiating secretary S.K. Ojha and other unknown persons.

“It was alleged that Dr. Mazumdar, whose term as the DCI president was to end once his membership with the Council expired on May 31, 2015, regained the membership from the Nilamber Pitamber University by claiming to be the honorary visiting professor of Vananchal Dental College and Hospital,” said a CBI official.

Dental Colleges to use Biometric Attendance for PG Students

Skipping classes is going to be harder for postgraduate dental students across the country. The Dental Council of India (DCI) will now monitor attendance centrally through the biometric system at all dental colleges. Additionally, there will also be teams that would inspect the Aadhaar card and address proof given by students.

The medical fraternity is clearly taking policing seriously now. Recently, medical colleges were asked to have live streaming on campus as well as CCTV cameras.

The call for such a move came after colleges witnessed increased absenteeism. Compared with undergraduate students, PG students were reportedly more careless with attendance and there were even cases of PG students working at clinics when they should have been in class.

Katrina Kaif to undergo dental surgery

Katrina Kaif has been in great pain all of last week. She has been walking around with a swollen face because of an infected wisdom tooth. The actress has been pumped with antibiotics. But being Ms Perfect, Katrina has attended three events that she was committed to, delaying her appointment to the dentist. Now the tooth has become severely infected and she has to undergo surgery.

Says a source close to Katrina, “Her wisdom tooth has been acting up. She neglected it and attended two events — a party thrown in honour of photographer Mario Testino in Delhi and Anurag Basu’s Saraswati puja after her return. On Thursday, she went to Breach Candy hospital to have the surgery but was sent back as the tooth had become too infected. Now the doctors have told her she can only have it done next week once the infection settles. On Friday, she attended another event (of a financial institution), She is on antibiotics and is feeling sick because of them, but she didn’t want to cancel her appointments. She wants to complete her work commitments as she can rest later. Today, she may go to the hospital to have the surgery done.”

Director of AVCO Dental Delhi arrested by CBI for illegal sale of dental products for armed forces

When the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last week busted an alleged criminal conspiracy involving the sale of dental products meant for armed forces to a private company, agency sleuths had stumbled upon hundreds of false teeth also known as dentures.

While the CBI probe was specifically probing the sale of 90 kits of Glas Ionomer Cement (GIC) to one Seth, the dentures pointed out to larger conspiracy involving at least one official working at the Armed Forces Medical Store Depot (AFMSD) and businesses which might be based out of India.

The probe agency, according to official sources, might now be sitting on a larger conspiracy involving illegal export, of dental products.

Skeletons started tumbling out after CBI received information that Hawaldar P Sridhar, who was working as the store in charge at Armed Forces Medical Store Depot (AFMSD) in Delhi Cantonment was allegedly involved in the sales of dental products.

Indian-origin dentist to pay $250,000 in fraud case in New York

New York An Indian-origin dentist is to pay $250,000 to settle a fraud case involving treatment of children enrolled in a government insurance for the poor, according to a federal prosecutor in Texas.

Akhil Reddy agreed to pay the amount to resolve the governments’ claims in the case involving a dental practices in Texas that he party owned, John Parker the Northern Texas federal prosecutor announced on Monday.

A total of $8.45 million was recovered by the government from him, four other dentists and a manager of the practice, the prosecutor said.

Between 2009 and 2014, their dental practices submitted false claims to Texas Medicaid for single-surface fillings in children that were not done and allegedly kickbacks were paid to the patients, their families and marketers, according to the prosecution.

Vadodara dentist invents low-cost denture for tobacco addicts

VADODARA: A 50-year-old woman from Dahod's tribal village had been chewing tobacco for the last 30 years. Due to this habit, she could not open her entire mouth when she needed denture. Doctors told her that she needs to undergo laser treatment so that they could fit denture in her mouth, but she could not afford it. The case then came to a dentist from the city who invented new form of dentures for patients like her.

Dr Kinnar Desai, who hails from Dahod and is practising in the city for some years now, invented a push button denture that could fit in the mouth of those who had the habit of chewing tobacco. "When the lady came to me, I told her that I will try to treat her but it will take some months. One day when I saw my assistant wearing a shirt with push buttons, the idea suddenly struck me," said Desai, who completed his dental studies from Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya from Indore.

No more fillings: Alzheimer's drug may help naturally repair tooth decay

Dental fillings may soon become a thing of the past, as scientists have found a way to renew living stem cells in tooth pulp using an Alzheimer's drug which could help naturally repair decaying teeth. Following trauma or an infection, the inner, soft pulp of a tooth can become exposed and infected.

In order to protect the tooth from infection, a thin band of dentine is naturally produced which seals the tooth pulp, but it is insufficient to effectively repair large cavities. Currently dentists use man-made cements or fillings, such as calcium and silicon-based products, to treat these larger cavities and fill holes in teeth.This cement remains in the tooth and fails to disintegrate, meaning that the normal mineral level of the tooth is never completely restored.

Scientists from the Dental Institute at King's College London have proven a way to stimulate the stem cells contained in the pulp of the tooth and generate new dentine -the mineralised material that protects the tooth -in large cavities, potentially reducing the need for fillings or cements.

Did you know that scuba diving can harm your teeth?

If you are planning a scuba diving session at your next holiday destination, first see a dentist! Due to the constant jaw clenching and fluctuations in the atmospheric pressure underwater, divers may experience symptoms that range from tooth, jaw and gum pain to loosened crowns and broken dental fillings, says a study. 

Recreational divers should consider consulting with their dentist before diving if they recently received dental care, said lead author Vinisha Ranna from the University at Buffalo in New York.

“Divers are required to meet a standard of medical fitness before certification, but there are no dental health prerequisites,” Ranna, who is also a certified stress and rescue scuba diver, noted.

“Considering the air supply regulator is held in the mouth, any disorder in the oral cavity can potentially increase the diver’s risk of injury. A dentist can look and see if diving is affecting a patient’s oral health,” Ranna said.

Mobident: India's first portable dental clinic chain delivers its services at doorsteps.

An arthritic elderly woman has a decaying tooth which not only causes a toothache from time to time but could also lead to inflammation that worsens her arthritic pain. But she keeps putting off a visit to the dentist.

You know you need periodic deep cleaning of your teeth to remove plaque and tartar. Otherwise it can lead to tooth decay, gum disease, and worse. Oral bacteria have been linked to heart disease, diabetes, and dementia. And yet, something always crops up to put off that dentist visit.

Now a dentist and an entrepreneur in India have got together to solve this problem.

Dental drill removed from patient’s lungs

Doctors at a hospital in India removed a dental drill from the lungs of a patient.

The surgery was undertaken at the Getwell Hospital in Nagpur.

The drill had fallen into the windpipe of the patient during a root canal procedure. The position of the drill was such that it could puncture his lung and blood vessels even with a simple cough.

The drill was swallowed into the stomach of the patient even while it was being removed by the doctors using a bronchoscope. Finally, a gastroscope was used to safely maneuver the drill out of the body.