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Corruption ruins the doctor-patient relationship in India

BMJ 2014; 348 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g3169 (Published 08 May 2014) Cite this as: BMJ 2014;348:g3169

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Reply to Doctors Ambarish Bhattacharya, Kaushik Ghosh, Kabita Bhattacharya

Nobody disputes that corruption exists in every Country, but in India it is more widespread.
Cheating, extortion, bribery, plagiarism, guest-student impersonations, corrupt teachers, under-the-table deals with politicians, assassinations, etc, before-during-after medical school examinations, did not happen in any other Country. [1][2]
Not long ago, India's Supreme Court ordered more than 600,000 students to retake the main medical school exams after they found that the question paper had been leaked. [1]
Later on, resulting staffed mainstream healthcare systems in India are riddled with corruption and inefficiency. [4][5][7]
The Bar Council of India claimed that only 55% of practicing lawyers in India are genuine, following a two-year long verification, the rest have fake degrees. [10]
Across India, there are more fake doctors practicing than real ones! [15]
Dubious Indian Colleges grant airplane pilot qualifications/licences in just 35 minutes. [11][12][13][14]
Furthermore, various quacks of dubious traditional practices are already legalized as doctors in India. [3][6][15]
References
[1] http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-33421572
[2] http://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h3324
[3] http://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.f4145
[4] http://www.bmj.com/content/326/7379/10.4
[5] http://www.bmj.com/content/347/bmj.f6881
[6] http://www.bmj.com/content/348/bmj.g422
[7] http://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.f2834
[8] http://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h565
[10] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-4302396/Indian-La...
[11] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-01/pilots-qualified-to-f...
[12] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3118475/Pilots-Ind...
[13] https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/roadwarriorvoices/2015/06/06/catch...
[14] http://time.com/3906733/india-pilots-license-air-safety-aviation/
[15] http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-37571259

Competing interests: No competing interests

15 July 2017
Stavros Saripanidis
Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Kalamaria, Thessaloniki, Greece