The re-designation scheme, floated by the Chandigarh Administration about two years ago, apparently came in handy for the authorities of Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, in an attempt to mislead the Medical Council of India (MCI). In January 2009, a day before an MCI inspection, the hospital used the scheme to promote some of its faculty members overnight hoping to get the MCI approval for additional post-graduate seats. The GMCH was eventually awarded three post-graduate seats after the inspection.

In fact, GMCH-32 Director-Principal Dr Raj Bahadur, in a document obtained under the Right to Information Act in a query pertaining to the Department of Blood Transfusion, clearly admits the faculty was promoted “only to show” the MCI. The noting states: “The scheme is meant for regular faculty members. But, during the MCI inspection for starting of the PG course in Transfusion Medicine, the MCI requirement was to have at least one professor, one reader and two senior lecturers. Since, GMCH, on the day of inspection, had one professor and three assistant professors, one assistant professor on contract, who had five years of experience as desired by the council, was re-designated as associate professor to fulfil the requirements of the MCI. It was also made clear that this re-designation was only for the sake of MCI.”

According to sources, after an inspection of the Department of Blood Transfusion in October 2008, the MCI did not grant a single post-graduate seat to GMCH-32. After a few months, however, the MCI conducted another inspection and the hospital succeeded.

... contd.