Several Medicos Forged Signatures Of Various Dept Heads In Log Books To Get Intern Certificates
Hyderabad: An internship scam has come to light at the state-run Gandhi Hospital. As many as 40 house surgeons from private medical colleges who chose to do their one-year mandatory internship at Gandhi were found to have forged signatures of various department heads in their log books to get the internship certificates. And this is turning out to be just the tip of the iceberg as sources disclosed that for several years now, Gandhi has for this reason been a hot favorite for doing internship for MBBS students of private colleges not only from AP but also neighbouring states.
Dr S Mahaboob, surgeon, who took over as superintendent of Gandhi Hospital recently, stumbled upon his own signature that was forged on log books. Subsequently, the log books of these students were sent to the HODs for verification and the large-scale fraud came to light.
A postgraduate student disclosed that a man operating from Malakpet had become popular among students for forging signatures perfectly. An artist, he is said to be running the racket and has a database of signatures of all the doctors as well as stamps of various departments.
During the last academic year, 312 medicos from private colleges had joined Gandhi. The 40 students who were caught are from the same batch. In fact, officials said that actually 140 students had erred but 40 committed serious violations. For now, all the students who were caught have been asked to repeat their postings. “We have also started enrolling the medicos in the biometric identification system database to set things right from this academic year. However, many students are delaying the registration process,” Dr S Mahaboob said. Further, the log books would be maintained by the departments and not the students.
It is the unholy nexus with the lower rung staff at the hospital that has made the rigorous training process a cakewalk for medicos. At least 75% of the students from private medical colleges have been reportedly walking away with certificates giving the comprehensive training a go by forging signatures on log books.
Annually, 400 students from private colleges do their internships at Gandhi and Osmania Hospital. A significant number of them get NOCs only to cash in on the premier image of the hospitals considering their heavy workload. “It’s a big fraud. After coming here, they do not bother to attend the training. This is a gross violation of the Medical Council of India (MCI) guidelines as they are supposed to do their internship for a year,” said a senior professor.
An intern, as part of the house surgeonship, is posted in all the clinical departments of the hospital on a rotation basis including surgery, gynaecology, orthopaedics, anesthesia, psychiatry, paediatrics, family welfare, medicine, social and preventive medicine, ENT/ ophthalmology among others. Post training, the respective department heads sign each of their log books.
The training gives the basic clinical experience in all the disciplines of medicine and enables them to work as a general physician. However, with students skipping these intern sessions, professors at Gandhi said that the whole purpose is lost. “The most important certificate in the profession is this internship completion certificate,” the senior professor said.
While Gandhi and Osmania are supposed to admit about 150 students each for internship, the numbers usually go up. The numbers go up as students belonging to high profile families manage to get reference letters from secretaries and ministers. Hospital heads have no option but to buckle under pressure.
This academic year, 120 students from other colleges have already been admitted at Gandhi. At Osmania Hospital, that has over 100 house surgeons from outside, the authorities did not rule out a similar situation.
“It’s an ocean and not free from recommendations,” said a senior doctor. If there is some limit on the numbers, there can be a check on them,” he added. Doctors said that there is pressure from various quarters to avoid being strict with medicos.
(This is the first in a two-part series on the internship scam).
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