Cong asks if accountability will be sought from Health ministry in alleged NMC scam unearthed by CBI

New Delhi, Jul 7 (PTI) The Congress on Monday questioned whether Health Minister J P Nadda will be held accountable over the alleged scam in the National Medical Commission for "corruption" in medical college approvals after the CBI booked officials of the Health ministry and NMC.

Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters, Congress leader Onika Mehrotra asked whether the resignation of the health minister, "under whose nose this scam happened", will be sought by Prime Minister Modi.

"Why is BJP President and Union Health Minister JP Nadda not being held accountable for the multi-crore bribery scheme unfolding right under his nose within his own ministry? Was the Union Health Minister unaware of the scale of these scams or silently complicit?" she asked.

There was no immediate reaction from the Health Ministry or the NMC.

"This is a clear case of gross negligence and systematic corruption. Is there no mechanism to check on what basis these recognitions were granted?" Mehrotra said.

Citing media reports, she said more than 40 medical colleges across the country may have obtained recognition through bribery, falsified records and manipulated inspections.

The Congress leader claimed that the FIR by the CBI on June 30, 2025. has named 35 individuals, including from the Union Health Ministry, NMC, intermediaries, representatives and a self-styled godman.

"The FIR accuses Dr. Montu Patel, the PCI president, of turning the regulatory body into a private club driven by favouritism, bribery and political manipulation," she alleged.

She said in total, the CBI found 23 such colleges across Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan that were approved during Patel's tenure despite failing to meet the prescribed norms and infrastructure standards.

"The BJP is hell-bent on destroying the future of our students. First, they engineered the Vyapam scam as a pilot in Madhya Pradesh... Now they are creating fake medical colleges to dupe our youth," the Congress leader alleged.

She also alleged that one Dr. Jeetu Lal Meena, then a whole-time member of the NMC Medical Assessment and Rating Board, who comes from Gujarat, is at the centre of the scandal and is currently under investigation by the CBI.

Officials said on Friday that the CBI has busted a network of officials of the Health Ministry and National Medical Commission, intermediaries and representatives of private medical colleges, allegedly involved in "egregious" acts, including graft and manipulation of the regulatory framework governing medical colleges.

The agency has named 34 people in an FIR, including eight officials of the Health Ministry, one of the National Health Authority and five doctors who were part of the NMC inspection team. PTI SKC RT