ketan desai

7/30/2019 Ketan Desai

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NEW DELHI: Medical Council of India

president Dr Ketan Desai and two others were

arrested late on Thursday for allegedly accepting

a bribe of Rs two crore to grant recognition to a

medical college in Punjab.

Desai was arrested late last night after the CBI

conducted searches at his office here following

information that he along with his associate

Jitender Pal Singh was allegedly demanding a

bribe of Rs two crore to recognise a college in

Punjab, CBI spokesperson Harsh Bahal saidtoday.

Bahal said that Desai along with Singh and

another associate Dr Kanwaljit Singh of Gyan


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Sagar Medical College in Punjab have been

arrested by CBI on corruption charges.

NEW DELHI: The arrest of MCI chief Ketan

Desai on Friday and subsequent investigations

has firmly established that the body which

regulates medical education in the country is, as

a court described it once, a den of corruption.

Desai was caught accepting a bribe of Rs 2 crore

from the vice-president of Patiala-based Gyan

Sagar medical college and hospital.

The vice-president of the college, Surinder

Singh, has been arrested. Another official of the

college, Kanwaljit Singh, and a Delhi-basedmiddleman, Jitendra Singh, too were arrested.

Kanwaljit was delivering the cash to Desai when

CBI officials nabbed them.

According to CBI, Desai had asked for Rs 2

crore for granting permission to start admission

of students for the academic year 2010-2011 in

different courses even though the college had

failed to comply with objections pointed out

earlier by an inspection committee.
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The Hazare movement and media have

focussed on corruption of the 'spectacular'

variety. But what has escaped the discussion

is the institutionalised corruption in-built inthe conduct and practice of professions like

the medical profession in India [ Images ],

says Dr Sanjay Nagral.

Throughout the tumultous days of Anna's fast I

received messages from doctor colleagues and

medical associations to participate in protestactions. Some like the Indian Medical

Association and the Association of Medical
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Consultants actually joined various public

actions.

I cannot remember these associations supportingany 'non medical' movement that doesn't directly

concern the practice of medicine in the past.

Their activities are generally confined to

seminars, relief work, social gatherings or

campaigns to defend doctors. They largely

function as guilds of doctors. So in a sense theyseemed to have broken new ground in openly

supporting what is an avowedly anti-

establishment movement.

One could regard this as yet another example of

the 'awakening' of the educated middle class,

that Anna's movement seems to have achieved.After all, who can deny that doctors are good

representative symbols of this class?

But such new enthusiasm by medical

associations also brings up an important

contradictory dimension about the participation

of professionals in the anti-corruption movementin India. The medical profession in this country

exemplifies this paradox in many ways. There
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are certain dominant forms of corruption that are

currently in the public domain.

The Hazare movement and the media havefocussed on the mega scams or the corruption of

the 'spectacular' variety. Then there is the 'petty'

corruption of the day to day type that all of us

engage with either as bribe givers or whine

about as social critics.

But what has escaped the discussion it deservesis the institutionalised and internalised form of

corruption that is in-built in the conduct and

practice of professions in India. It is so

impregnated and long standing that one has

ceased to even recognise it as corruption. And

this is the variety where unknowingly orknowingly the main protagonist is not the State

or politicians, but educated professionals

themselves.

The practice of medicine in India has several

telling examples of this form.

Take the commercialisation of education in the

form of private medical colleges where seats are

sold through underhand dealings. What is

pertinent to this discourse is the level of


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collusion with this market by institutions,

medical teachers and medical practitioners.

Private medical college empires have grownbecause they have managed to hire and retain

medical teachers, set up arrangements with

hospitals to provide 'clinical material' in the

form of patients and get recognition for

postgraduate courses from inspection teams

consisting largely of doctors.Many doctors' children study in these colleges.

Thus not only is there no internal resistance to

both the idea and practice of the sale of medical

seats, but it has been co-opted as an acceptable

form of medical education. A more revealing

example is something that plays out in dailymedical practice.

It would be no exaggeration to say that a

significant proportion of medical practice in

India, especially in the dominant private sector

is conducted through the payment of

'commissions' or more colloquially called 'cuts'.These are cash transactions, not revealed in

official documents and arbitrary in amount. This

all pervasive practice operates for patient


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referral from family doctor to specialist, doctor

to hospital, pathology and radiology clinics.

What qualifies this activity as 'corrupt' is the factthat it is non transparent and secretive especially

for the patient. Besides, of course, it increases

the cost of health care and affects quality. Again,

this practice has been internalised and

legitimised by its sheer scale and acceptance in

the profession. Hardly any medical associationever --including the ones who have joined

Hazare -- have ever tried to build internal

resistance or opposition to such a patently

corrupt practice.

Our profession has, of course, also had its

share of 'spectacular' corruption. In 2010, DrKetan Desai, president of the Medical Council

of India, ex-president of the Indian Medical

Association and president-elect of the World

Medical Association, was arrested by the

Central Bureau of Investigation on charges of

corruption and sacked by the centralgovernment as president of the MCI. He is

now cooling his heels in Tihar jail.


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Desai amassed crores of rupees (one estimate

pegs the amount of money recovered from the

raid on his home at Rs 1,800 crores or Rs 18

billion), essentially from the lucrative business

of recognition of medical colleges.

Incidentally, Desai had been repeatedly indicted

by various courts and had been temporarily

sacked in 2002, but staged a return. Thus such

an individual not just survived, but actuallythrived for an entire decade at the highest levels

in the Indian medical establishment, both as the

president of the Medical Council as well as the

Indian Medical Association, due to a certain

permissiveness of his constituency and peers.

This is also a reflection of a tolerance andambivalence medical professionals have

developed towards internal corruption in their

own representative bodies.

It is easier and safer for a professional to

symbolically identify with the Hazare

movement, but much more challenging anddaring to question internal corruption at one's

workplace. Over the last two decades we have

tried to raise issues related to the ethics of


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practice of medicine in India through a

publication, but have met with a considerable

resistance from doctors and their organisations

to speak out openly and identify with the cause.

Whatever way the Hazare movement finally

goes, if it serves to stir up some self

introspection amongst educated, elite

professionals it could be an important long-term

gain. When the dust and noise of the spectacularsettles it may be worth remembering to turn our

gaze inwards.

Dr Sanjay Nagral is a Mumbai-based surgeon

New Delhi: One and a half years after the don

of the Medical Council of India, Ketan Desai

was arrested for taking a bribe of Rs 2 crore,

the Central Bureau of Investigation is finally

ready with a chargesheet. CNN-IBN has

accessed the confidential papers that

document how the deal was struck, rules

bent, quality of medical education

compromised and how money changed hands.

The CBI decoded the modus operandi of

former MCI chief Ketan Desai and his tout


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JP Singh. Sources say that Desai used code

words like 'Badal' for Punjab colleges and

'Mamata' for West Bengal colleges.

The Key characters in the conspiracy were:

Dr Ketan Desai, President of the Medical

Council of India

Dr Sukhvinder Singh, Vice Chairman of Gian

Sagar Charitable Trust

JP Singh, Tout

According to the CBI, Desai entered into a

conspiracy with JP Singh and Sukhwinder Singh

to grant permission to Gian Sagar Medical

College in Patiala for admission of students for2010-2011 for different courses for which the

college did not have the required facilities.

Conversation tapped by the CBI:

Here's the transcript of a phone conversation

tapped by the CBI on the day the executivecommittee of the MCI was to examine Gyan

Sagar Medical College.


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Ketan Desai: I will be late todaythere is a

meeting of the Exective Committee.

JP Singh: yes but you've already decided tohelp those poor people.

Ketan Desai: yes but there are a lot of

problems, its only cement and steel.

JP Singh: okay.

Ketan Desai: It will be very difficult for me.

Ten days later JP Singh struck a deal with the

Vice Chairman of Gyan Sagar Medical College,

Sukhvinder Singh.

JP Singh: Its just a mandatoryrequirement(second inspection). We have to get

it done.

Sukhwinder Singh: okay.

JP Singh: you have to show an updated version

of the report. The person who did not havecholey bature will be there again.

Sukhwinder Singh: the same inspector?

JP Singh: Yes, He will get the work done.


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During a re-inspection on March 22, 2010, the

MCI again said that there was no auditorium.

The college authorities gave an undertaking to

complete the construction within one week.

The Executive Committee of the MCI on Arpil

5, 2010, suddenly approved the college and

recommended the government that permission

be granted for admitting fourth year MBBS

students.

Desai then called JP Singh using code language

to say that a deal had been agreed upon.

Ketan Desai: 'Badal's' relatives were here today.

JP Singh: There was a blockage, he needed an

angioplasty.

Ketan Desai: Yes, I put in a stent, now it is

okay. He will not need surgery.

Based on these tapped conversations the CBI

raided JP Singh's residence in Vasant Kunj onthe April 23 and recovered a sum of Rs 2 crore,

sent by Sukhwinder Singh, meant to be

delivered to Desai. In the course of its


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investigation, the CBI got the voice samples of

Desai and others verified.

After Desai's arrest, CNN-IBN conducted aseries of investigations that exposed how Desai

ran the Medical Council of India like a cartel,

extorting money from private colleges to grant

them permission.

While the government is struggling to clean the

mess left behind by him - Desai today is out on

bail. But the evidence against him is too strong

to ignore now.

(Follow IBNLive.com on Facebook and on

Twitterfor updates that you can share with your

friends.)

BIO DATA

Dr. Ketan Desai is an apostle of genuine

imagination, innovation and creativity, which

has resulted in his enviable ascendency to the

key positions. Dr. Ketan Desai achievementsand attainments have been through his

dedication and hard- work, that together makes

him look legendary.
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This is fortified by virtue of the fact that

incidentally Dr. Ketan Desai happens to bethe youngest ever President of the Gujarat

Medical Council, Medical Council of India

(MCI), Indian Medical Association (IMA), to

name a few. Dr Ketan Desai has a unique

distinction of being the youngest teacher

member of the Senate, Academic & Executive

Council of the Gujarat University and also the

youngest ever Dean of Faculty of Medicine as

well.


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In a major development, the Supreme Court issued a notice

against Ketan Desai and Gujarat University (GU) on

Monday in response to a complaint filed by US-based

group People for Better Treatment (PBT). PBT moved theSC in February after its PIL challenging election of former

president of Medical Council of India (MCI) Ketan Desai

to the GU senate was rejected by the Gujarat high court last

December.

The SC division bench of Justices G S Singhvi and A K

Ganguly admitted PBT's appeal on Monday challenging the

high court's dismissal of the PIL and issued notices to DrKetan Desai and GU asking why Dr Desai's election

"unopposed" to the GU senate should not be cancelled.

The court notice mentions that while still president of the

MCI, Dr Desai was arrested on April 23, 2010 by the CBI

for taking bribes from a private medical college and

thought he is at present free on bail he is still facing a

criminal trial. The notice also asks for an explanation thatas the MCI cancelled Dr Desai's medical registration on

October 9, 2010, how he could be elected to the GU Senate

to a post which is reserved for registered medical doctors.

Ironically, the Gujarat HC had dismissed PBT's PIL on the

ground that since the PBT president is a non-resident

Indian (NRI), he may not have any "public interest" for

people living in India. It hadeven imposed a penalty of

Rs10,000 against PBT for bringing a seemingly frivolous

PIL against Dr Desai. "The SC notice sends a strong signal

to all corrupt medicos and supporters of Dr Desai," said Dr

Kunal Saha, president of PBT.


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PBT's advocate in New Delhi T V George explained that

according to the SC notice both the parties, Desai and GU,

would have to justify their actions. "After that, SC would

probe the matter of appointment of Desai in GU senatefurther," said George.

Dr Saha said Desai is facing criminal trial for corruption

and disproportionate assets. "At present, he is out on bail

and is trying to be back at the helm of Indian healthcare.

Both PBT and MCI had warned GU against taking Desai

into the senate, but GU authorities went ahead with the

appointment, he said.

ketan desai

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