Hindustan Times: New Delhi: Tuesday,
April 19, 2016.
The
Bio-Chemic Education Grant Commission (BEGC) offers accreditation to medical
colleges and gives licences to doctors to practice medicine in the field of
“bio-chemic”.
This would
seem to be like a regular government body similar to the Medical Council of
India, but it isn’t. BEGC, which claims to be a statutory authority, has been
deceiving colleges and doctors across India since being established around
seven years ago.
Based in West
Bengal’s Nadia district, BEGC claims it was established under the Indian
Bio-Chemic Act 2009, an act that doesn’t exist. But its notifications have
appeared on the Gazette of India, the official rule book of the Indian
government.
How? The authorities
are clueless. On March 23, 2015, three notifications appeared in section 4 of
part III of the Gazette that is meant for “miscellaneous notifications” by
statutory bodies.
“All Indian
Medical system will consult for any advice and activities to get legal
permission” from the commission, one of the notifications said. Another listed
13 members of the commission. Every notification ended: “By order, Shyamal
Dutta, the CEO and the President.”
Through an
RTI, HT asked the government press in New Delhi, how the notifications were
published without verification. “The genuineness of the notification is not
verified by the press,” it replied. The department of publication did not
reply.
The
commission also gets its alleged authenticity through its website, which has
photos of minister of science and technology Jitendra Singh along with Dutta.
BECG even
conducted a seminar in New Delhi’s Hotel Ashok in January in collaboration with
the “Department of North East Development”.
BEGC runs a
medical court, gives accreditation to doctors and educational institutions to
conduct courses on “bio-chemic” education. Its centralised processing cell has
even sent notices to doctors in Kerala, asking them to pay Rs 3,000 each for
getting registered with BEGC.
The
commission’s website lists about 24 bio-chemic colleges and a not-for-profit
University of Bio-Chemic Health Sciences established in 2015 and “controlled”
by BEGC.
It also gives
an idea of what the commission did so far. “Nearly 1,000 students are receiving
teaching and training within the affiliated colleges across India.”
The Patna
Bio-chemic Medical College & Research Institute, one of the “accredited”
colleges, said the first batch started last year with about 25 students. The
course fee is Rs 1.51 lakh a year for a 4-year MBBS. The new batch is about to
start.
The person
could not explain what “bio-chemic” is except that it is an “advanced medicine”
form, and said there are four faculties to teach and they are MBBS doctors.
BCEGC’s
website also shows clippings of some national dailies (including HT) that
carried stories on its press conference.
The CEO has
not responded to HT’s email queries. On why the commission was located in
Nadia, an official of BEGC replied: “It is because our CEO’s house is here.”
.JPG)
.JPG)
