New Delhi: Hospitals affiliated with medical colleges often admit healthy individuals as patients on specific days to mislead inspection teams. This tactic is used to meet the requirements for obtaining approval to establish a new medical college or increase MBBS seats. In many instances, these deceptive practices go unnoticed.
The issue of medical colleges hiring fake or non-serious patients to meet regulatory standards has become increasingly common. In response, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has, for the first time, introduced detailed guidelines to identify fake patients during inspections.
According to the NMC guidelines, a sudden spike in hospital admissions on the day or the day before an inspection could indicate the presence of fake patients. Admissions for minor ailments that can be treated with oral medications in outpatient departments (OPD) are also flagged as suspicious. Additionally, the absence of supporting diagnostic evidence, such as X-rays or blood tests, before or after admission, is a clear indicator of fake or ghost patients.
In pediatric wards, assessors are advised to look out for children who appear playful and healthy without any significant medical issues. An example cited involved a Maharashtra medical college seeking to increase its MBBS intake, where all the children in the pediatric ward were found to be in excellent health.
Other red flags include multiple patients from the same family or those admitted through preventive health checkups or camps, which may also suggest fake admissions.
The practice of falsifying bed occupancy to meet inspection criteria has been a long-standing problem. Under the new guidelines, any irregularities identified during assessments will be treated as violations. For instance, in 2019, the Supreme Court penalized a medical college in Bhopal by barring it from admitting new students for two years after discovering it had admitted fake patients.
The NMC’s new norms aim to curb such unethical practices and ensure transparency in medical education and hospital management.
