MUCH has been written about the largesse bestowed upon Uttar Pradesh by Kanshi Ram and Mayawati. But the most curious is probably the medical college that has been established with their blessings in Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) flats on the outskirts of Ghaziabad. The Maharaji Trust, which runs the UP College, also runs four institutions from the basement of Santosh Hospital at Beasant Nagar, Chennai. And its antecedents are not very encouraging.
The four colleges—the Sharmila College of Nursing, Santosh College of Occupational Therapy, Maharaji College of Physiotherapy and Maharaji College of Pharmacy—do not have a single full-time professor and make do with guest lecturers and a visiting faculty. The Tamil Nadu directorate of medical education has issued a showcause notice to the colleges, asking why it should not issue a closure notice. According to the notice, the colleges have violated all norms set for self-financing colleges.
Dr P. Mahalingam, managing director of Santosh Hospital and the four colleges in Chennai, also manages the Santosh World Medical Academy at Ghaziabad. While the hospital in Chennai is a joint venture between Mahalingam, Natarajan, husband of Sasikala, and T. Devanathan, president of the BSP's Tamil Nadu unit, Mahalingam seems to be managing the show. Devanathan is believed to be in UP, away from the Tamil Nadu police who want him in the dhoti scam.
That Mahalingam, Devanathan and Natarajan are close friends is borne out by the fact that Kanshi Ram and Mayawati usually stay with Natarajan when they are in Chennai. Also, government approvals for Santosh Hospital and the four colleges run from its basement came when the AIADMK under Jayalalitha was in power.
Mahalingam is Kanshi Ram's personal physician. This must have inspired Kanshi in 1992 to ask the then minister of health, A.R. Antulay, to grant permission to the Maharaji Educational Trust to set up the college in Ghaziabad. Earlier, the Indian Medical Council (IMC) had refused permission in view of the college's poor training facilities. Kanshi Ram and Mayawati continue to be patrons of the college.
Though it runs out of the Prataap Vihar GDA flats, the Santosh World Medical Academy is a recognised medical college affiliated to the Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut. The academy is fairly clear about how it admits students. Pay Rs 25 lakh and you are assured of a seat. The only trouble is that the students have to run from one flat to the other for their classes. And lab facilities, according to insiders, are poor and training facilities near zero.
Despite the Supreme Court's order fixing a maximum limit on donation at Rs 17.5 lakh for a seat in MBBS courses and Rs 10.5 lakh for BDS, authorities in Santosh Medical College continue to charge Rs 22-25 lakh for an MBBS seat and Rs 19 lakh for the BDS course. The fees, as Outlook learnt, are 'negotiable'.
The Ghaziabad College has had scant respect for rules. Thus, according to rules laid down by the IMC, 85 per cent of total seats have to be filled through a central test. However, many seats from this quota go to candidates who offer money for admission. Every such admission is preceded by negotiations. An Outlook correspondent posing as a candidate was asked to quote the maximum donation he could muster. "Fees can be discussed but you tell us what is your limit," said Dr Ranjan Das at the admission cell. But the moment his boss, Dr S.
Bhardwaj, got to know that they were dealing with a journalist they became defensive: "We are charging according to the Supreme Court stipulations." Surprisingly, the medical college which functions out of residential flats has been sanctioned 150 seats by the IMC. But then, political patronage can ensure anything.
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