HYDERABAD: In a major blow to medical education in Telangana, Medical Council of India (MCI) officials on Monday said they have recommended cancellation of 400 MBBS seats in four different colleges, including two owned by Ch Malla Reddy, the TDP lawmaker from Malkajgiri constituency in Hyderabad.

Malla Reddy's two medical colleges include Malla Reddy Medical College for Women (MRCW) and Malla Reddy Institute of Medical Sciences (MRIMS) in Jeedimetla. Interestingly, barely days ago, Reddy drew flak from his party for openly praising Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, fuelling speculation that he might switch over to the TRS.

In case of MRCW, the MCI decided not to allow admission to 150 seats on grounds that its management indulged in 'forgery and fabrication'. Regarding MRIMS, the MCI sought to debar the college from admitting students in MBBS courses (150 seats) for the academic years 2015-16 and 2016-17 after their inspection team found authorities resorting to unethical practices like 'forging certificate' besides 'namesake presence of faculty members'.

"Listing ghost faculty and production of forged certificates is not surprising during inspections as the MCI is yet to implement the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system, a fool-proof system under which it promised to integrate Aadhaar cards, photographs and fingerprints of medical teachers to prevent such frauds," said Dr K Ramesh Reddy, MCI member.

According to the minutes of MCI executive committee meeting (copies in possession of TOI), both MRCW and MRIMS managements did not have enough staffers and resident doctors and had false signatures in the attendance sheet of doctors. At MRIMS, the MCI executive committee recorded irregularities, including ghost faculty and lack of facilities.

In fact, the MCI executive committee recorded a four-page minutes copy devoted entirely to the unethical practice of showing one Dr D Aruna as senior resident of MRIMS by reportedly producing a forged experience certificate, obtained from another medical college.

The MCI has also cancelled 50 MBBS seats each granted to two other private medical colleges for the acemedic year 2015-16 __ Mediciti Institute of Medical Sciences, Ghanpur and MNR Medical College, Sangareddy __ for failing MCI's assessment test.

Meanwhile, a miffed Telangana Junior Doctors Association (TJUDA) said that loss of 400 MBBS seats in the four private medical colleges in the state would seriously dent the hopes of thousands of aspirants. "About 50% of seats in private colleges are reserved under the convenor quota. This means, poor MBBS aspirants would lose 200 seats," said Dr G Srinivas, president, TJUDA.