Private Practice Hits Hard: 6 Medical Teachers May Lose Registration

Mumbai: Recently, the Medical Education Department, Maharashtra found 6 medical teachers attached to Kolhapur Medical College practising in private hospitals. Taking action on the matter, the department has issued a show-cause notice to the dean and is also mulling to recommend deregistration of the teachers.

Confirming the matter, an official told TOI, “The matter came to light last week when medical education secretary Sanjay Deshmukh deployed his deputy Sanjay Kamlakar to check if teachers at the state-run medical college were practising in six private hospitals in Kolhapur.”

Kamlakar visited the six private hospitals using a fake name. He took OPD papers, paid fees and secured prescriptions from the hospitals.

Kamlakar then submitted a report to Deshmukh in which he mentioned all the names of the teachers who were practising in private hospitals during working hours of the medical college which include Vidya Patil, Sudarshan Gaurkar, Chetan Ghorpade, Vijay Kasa, D G Shitole and Sanjay Desai.

Further, Deshmukh went to the dean Jaiprakash Ramanand and asked about the matter to which the latter declined of having any such information. But Deshmukh didn’t mention that he had checked the status of the medical teachers personally.

Subsequently, the medical department issued a show-cause notice to Ramanand for misleading the government and for breach of Maharashtra Civil Service Rules.

A senior official at Medical Education Department clarified: “Our contention is that while more than half a dozen doctors were not available in the college and were involved in private practice, the dean was in the dark. Further, the dean has submitted that no teacher is involved in private practice. We have submitted all relevant documents to him.”

When the daily contacted Ramanand, he said that when he received a letter from Deshmukh, he secured information from all heads of the department on whether any of the teachers were involved in private practice. “I have submitted my report to the medical education department. But so far, I have not received a show cause-notice,” Ramanand told TOI.

Medical Dialogues earlier reported about the case where three professors attached to Yavatmal Government Medical College faced the same consequence in November 2017. During the inspection of the college, it had been found that the professors were absent for a prolonged period and were indulging in private practice. However, deregistration is still under process.

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