Two Shocking News--

From India; Corrupted Hands On MCI -Ketan Desai

Ketan Desai: from an apostle of imagination to a fraudster:

New Delhi: A net search on Ketan Desai would probably take you to a web page that describes him as "an apostle of genuine imagination, innovation and creativity which has resulted in his enviable ascending to key positions in the world of medicine." For the son of a humble primary school teacher from Maroli, a moffusil town of South Gujarat, the description couldn't have been more apt in many ways. The disgraced chairman of the Medical Council of India (MCS), a self regulatory appellate body of doctors entrusted with the herculean job of regulating the medical practitioners in the country, made it to unimaginable heights of wealth, fame and power through a clever mix of imagination, innovation and creativity in money-making. A self-professed champion of ethical medical practices over the past few years who less than six months back scripted a new code of conduct for doctors, Desai's own track record is a testimony to the unscrupulous practices rampant in the medical profession currently. From a childhood spent in a decrepit government quarter to his present abode, a palatial bungalow, worth more than Rs 10 crore in Ahmedabad's toniest locality, Desai has come a long way from hishumblemoorings. After completing his schooling from a primary school in Maharastra, Desai went on do his medicine and subsequently a post-graduate superspecialisation in urology. In 1983, he became the head of the Urology department of his alma mater, the BJ Medical College and Civil hospital, Ahmedabad, a position he holds to this date. Interestingly, gossip has it that though he hardly reported for work at BJMC, showing up once a fortnight and that too on weekends, his clout was evident from the fact that he managed to bag the Dr BC Roy award for excellence for teaching in medicine. His penchant for donning leadership positions and his love for campus politics starting manifesting from the early days when he began his stint as a syndicate and senate member with Gujarat University to which the BJMC is affiliated followed by his donning the mantle of President of Gujarat Medical Council way back in the 90s. Over the years his grip over the entire medical fraternity has become so overpowering that the entire medical fraternity of Ahmedabad was present to felicitate him following his un-contested victory as President of World Medical Association some months ago. His wife Alka Desai is practicing gynecologist who runs flourishing nursing home in the heart of Ahmedabad. Says a colleague who does not wish to be identified, "He used to micro manage the medical associa tions of each and every city to remain in power. " This is evident from the fact that soon after taking over as chairman of MCS, Desai cancelled the arrangement of part-time teaching posts (honorary professors) in the medical colleges. This created a situation where the owners of the private colleges as well as government medical colleges had to receive and give favors to the MCS . This was necessary because, searching for full time. Also, in accordance with the Medical Council of India Act 1956, the MCS has been bequeathed with wideranging powers, including granting of permission for new medical colleges, increase of seats in the colleges and annual inspection of the medical colleges once a year. This includes private as well as government medical colleges. The responsibility of checking adherence to quality standards at the medical colleges is designated to three inspection authorities. It is alleged that Desai used to designate close associates and through them, operate an entire cartel. Currently there are 143 government colleges and 157 private medical colleges in the country. All these colleges come under MCS. While there was no chance of influencing control for giving permission to government medical colleges, here too it is alleged that Desai exerted influence by forcing the colleges to purchase various equipment during the annual inspection time. Desai made himself almost indispensable even for state governments as MCS has powers to increase the seats of government medical colleges. The clout he exerted within the medical fraternity as well as political circles is evident from the fact that despite being unceremoniously removed from his position as chairman of MCS during his first stint at the helm of the powerful body which lasted from 1996-2001 following a verdict by the Delhi High Court which found him guilty of corruption and abuse of power, he still bounced back in 2009 in his second innings in the same position, thanks largely to the MCI's flawed system of election where lobbying plays a crucial role. It is in view of his tarnished image that Desai is his second avatar as MCS chairman became a crusader for reforms in the medical profession and in December, managed to have the crucial amendment to Indian Medical Council (professional conduct, etiquetteandethics) regulations, 2002, amended to prohibit doctors from accepting gifts from pharmaceutical companies. Ironically, though the MCI's spanking new code of conduct attempts to remind doctors of their hippocratic oath by prohibiting pill-pushing practitioners from pocketing gifts or accepting free gifts, foreign travel and monetary considerations failing which their licences would be cancelled and punitive action taken, it is Desai's own career which is making a mockery of the entire clean up exercise. Today, with skeletons and an amassed fortune of ill-gotten wealth which includes numerous bungalows, land in prime places and gold and diamonds costing a fortune, Desai's snapshot may be an ideal accompaniment to the line 'Physician Heal Thyself '. By Jyotsna Bhatnagar & Mahendrasinh Solanki, 29/04/2010 Source: The Financial Express

My Comment-

Medical council of India as we all know the highest professional body for regulation of medical teaching and practice, has lately became a source of bad news for media. While other countries are engaged in modernization of medical practices and medical education like PMETB/GMC changes that we are seeing in UK or the health care reform that is happening in USA, we are unfortunately lagging fat behind; not because of scarcity of talent or lack of resources as many people think but because of poor planning, lack of foresight and our bureaucratic colonial hangover. If we can not tell/ listen the truth about inefficiency, inability or practical difficulties that is there in ground level action, change can not happen as if we will not define the problem in exact dimensions we can not find the answer. Presenting palatable figures to seniors is easy and every body is doing that. We should have courage to accept the real bad figures first. Since last sixty year many figures /data is flowing in the air the validity of which is questionable, but now the time has come to accept what we were not able to do and try to do what we can. It is what I mean by colonial hangover of administrators. People may not talk about MCI Corruption, may be because of law of omarta (law of silence of God Father ) but we all know the MCI game that is being played in administrative /managerial corridors in medical education. Absolute Corruption= Absolute Power = Power+ Monopoly+ Lack of transparency It is the simple math, isn’t it? But surprisingly the people on high chairs can not understand it. Don’t you think the it is the time to bring transparency and abolishing MCI monopoly and infuse fresh IV drip of vision for next decade of health care. I don’t know if we have any Vision 2020 or 2050 for medical infrastructure development or addressing the problem of providing health care services and/or providers to underserved areas or unprivileged class. I was impressed when Govt of India started talking about the initiative to increase number of medical specialists / increase rural physicians. It was indeed a right way to accept that we have failed miserably in many area and we now want to fix it but many obstacles arose thereafter that shifted the whole plan to back seat. After this scandal, now it is the high time to fix this MCI issue, but can Dr Man Mohan Singh, bell the cat? If he can not, than whom else we can expect…? Let us see what will happen in coming days.

From USA-

Yale Medical Researcher Fatally Shot Outside Home
(A version appeared in print on April 27, 2010, on page A24 of the New York edition)

BRANFORD, Conn. — A doctor was charged on Monday with fatally shooting a former colleague who was doing postdoctoral work at the Yale School of Medicine and with firing at the victim’s pregnant wife. The suspect had a history of confrontations with the victim and other colleagues that led to his firing from a Brooklyn hospital, the authorities said. The police here said the suspect, Dr. Lishan Wang, 44, was charged in the killing of his former colleague, Dr. Vajinder Toor, outside Dr. Toor’s residence on Monday morning. The police said Dr. Wang, a Chinese citizen from Beijing who has lived in Marietta, Ga., also fired at Dr. Toor’s wife, but she was not wounded. Dr. Wang has been charged with murder, attempted murder and firearms offenses. Dr. Toor was walking in the parking lot toward his car at the Meadows condominiums, shortly before 8 a.m. when he was shot several times. Dr. Wang was arrested after witnesses to the shooting provided the police with details about the assailant and his vehicle, police said. Dr. Toor was a postdoctoral fellow at the Yale School of Medicine who was working with the infectious-disease section of Yale-New Haven Hospital. Chief James Perrotti of the Yale University Police Department said in an e-mail message to the university community — which was shaken by the killing of a graduate student in a lab building in September — that Branford police had told him the killing was not a random act and was not related to Yale. Dr. Wang was being held in $2 million bail. A message left with a lawyer representing him in a civil lawsuit was not immediately returned. Dr. Toor worked at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in Brooklyn before joining Yale. “We’re following a hypothesis that the victim and the assailant had some sort of negative interaction at a previous employer,” Lt. Geoffrey Morgan of the Branford police said. Lieutenant Morgan said the police did not expect to make additional arrests. Dr. Wang, who also worked at Kingsbrook, filed a federal discrimination lawsuit last year against the hospital. In it, he referred to a heated exchange in May 2008 with his supervisor in the hospital’s residency program, a man identified in the suit at “Dr. Vajinder.” The suit says “Dr. Vajinder” accused Dr. Wang of ignoring pages and calls from the hospital staff. “An hour after this heated discussion, Dr. Vajinder then accused Dr. Wang of threatening his safety by using hostile body language, although he did not summon security to assist him,” Dr. Wang’s lawsuit says. It is one of several accusations of anger and behavioral problems that Dr. Wang acknowledges he was cited for at Kingsbrook. In the lawsuit, he said he was unfairly labeled excitable, emotional and unable to control his anger. Dr. Wang was suspended with pay on May 22, 2008, and notified by letter that the hospital had decided to propose firing him. He was told by the union that the hospital would allow him to remain employed only if he sought disability leave for mental impairment. He was fired in July. By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (Published: April 26, 2010)

My condolences

My condolences goes for both the victim and aggressor .
It was very unfortunate, tragic and shocking for all of us.

If people like us can not resolve the issue without weapons than there is no hope for the society. Any Body who has worked or related with the medical field knows how much emotions and ambitions are involved there. But people who are in rat race should know even they won the race they will still be a rat.I think if we understand that than we be able to dissociate us from our profession for a while, to look at the larger loving picture of life.

Let us pray there will not be any repetition of this story ever in our medical community.

Amen.