NHM Madhya Pradesh Scam in Tribal Healthcare.

NHM Madhya Pradesh Scam Exposed

• Sanctioned Surgeons Buried, Unqualified CPS Doctors Recruited in Tribal Health Betrayal

• Tribal Betrayal: Denying Surgery to Divert Patients to Private Hospitals

• The Profit Racket

An investigation by the Sprouts News Investigation Team (SIT) has uncovered a massive recruitment and policy fraud within the National Health Mission (NHM) in Madhya Pradesh. Officials allegedly suppressed sanctioned posts for General Surgeons while recruiting unqualified CPS doctors, violating medical norms and misleading the Union Health Ministry. Tribal communities were systematically denied life-saving surgeries and diverted to private hospitals, turning public healthcare into a profit racket. The scandal points to a multi-crore corruption nexus defying constitutional authorities and creating a dangerous healthcare crisis.

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Deliberate Misrepresentation to the Union Health Ministry

Internal communications from August 2025 reveal that NHM Madhya Pradesh’s HR wing deliberately provided misleading information to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. While acknowledging contractual appointments in some specialities, the state agency completely omitted the sanctioned cadre of 52 General Surgeons from its submissions. This misrepresentation reached the highest echelons of the Union Health Ministry, including the Health Secretary, Additional Secretary, and Joint Secretary, effectively corrupting policy oversight at the national level.

The false submissions have prevented central intervention, allowing the state to continue its irregular recruitment practices unchecked. This act of concealing crucial manpower data from the central government constitutes a serious breach of administrative protocol and transparency norms governing centrally sponsored schemes like the NHM.

Sanctioned Surgeons: The Official Record Versus NHM’s Lies

The Sprouts News Investigation Team has verified NHM’s own Administrative Approvals, specifically Framework for Implementation (FMR) documents 8.1.2.3 for the financial years 2024-25 and 2025-26. These official records clearly sanction 52 posts for General Surgeons, alongside specialists in OBG, Paediatrics, and Anaesthesia. The sanctioned cadres also include Orthopaedic, Paediatric, ENT, Ophthalmic, and Neurosurgeons, forming a comprehensive specialist framework.

By actively hiding these sanctioned posts and refusing to recruit qualified MS (General Surgery) specialists, NHM Madhya Pradesh has engaged in a documented act of administrative fraud. This suppression of factual data from its own approved frameworks points to a calculated effort to undermine the public healthcare system’s specialist capacity.

The CPS Diploma Scam: Replacing Qualified Surgeons with Unrecognised Practitioners

While systematically blocking the recruitment of sanctioned General Surgeons, NHM Madhya Pradesh actively recruited doctors holding CPS (College of Physicians and Surgeons) diplomas. This recruitment is highly irregular as CPS diplomas are not recognized by the National Medical Commission (NMC), the country’s premier medical education regulatory body. Furthermore, CPS examinations have been suspended following judicial scrutiny, casting serious doubt on the validity of these qualifications.

The replacement of fully-qualified surgeons with CPS diploma holders constitutes a dangerous compromise on patient safety and clinical standards. This scam not only deprives patients of competent surgical care but also raises serious questions about the motives behind promoting unqualified practitioners within the public health system, potentially involving kickbacks and illegal appointments.

Complete Collapse of Governance and Constitutional Defiance

NHM Madhya Pradesh has demonstrated open defiance of multiple constitutional and oversight mechanisms. The Mission Directorate ignored a personal forwarding by the DARPG Minister on 10 September 2025 and sidelined a direct directive from NHM Division-1 on 16 September 2025. Astonishingly, 42 Presidential Petitions channeled through Rashtrapati Bhavan were brushed aside, and directives from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) on maternal and child health were simply dumped.

This pattern of ignoring directives from the highest offices of the country indicates a complete breakdown of administrative accountability and a culture of impunity within the state health machinery. The refusal to comply with national oversight bodies suggests the operation of a powerful, entrenched nexus that is confident of its immunity.

Also Read: Massive Corruption Alleged in Pune APMC Leading ₹200 Crore Scam.

Fundamental Rights Violated and Madhya Pradesh as a National Outlier

The scam constitutes a blatant violation of fundamental rights enshrined in the Indian Constitution. Article 14 (Right to Equality) is violated by the arbitrary denial of employment to qualified surgeons. Article 16(1) (Equality of Opportunity in Public Employment) is breached by the irregular recruitment of unqualified CPS doctors. Article 19(1)(g) (Right to Practice any Profession) is infringed upon by barring eligible specialists from serving in public facilities.

While states like Haryana, Kerala, and Maharashtra have transparently recruited surgeons and other specialists under NHM, Madhya Pradesh stands as a national outlier. This deliberate sabotage of recruitment processes has created chaos, collapsed accountability, and eroded public trust in the state’s healthcare system.

Tribal Betrayal and the Private Hospital Profit Racket

The exclusion of qualified surgeons is a deliberate sabotage of the Union Health Ministry’s 2014 guidelines, which empower surgeons to perform C-sections and manage obstetric emergencies. By blocking surgeons in government facilities, NHM MP has turned its public hospitals into mere referral centres, forcibly diverting poor and tribal patients to private maternity homes. This orchestrated racket converts childbirth into a lucrative business, extracting crores of rupees from vulnerable families who are entitled to free healthcare.

Madhya Pradesh, which already suffers from some of India’s worst health indicators including high infant and maternal mortality rates, is thus actively worsening its public health crisis. The state’s tribal population, which relies heavily on public health facilities, is the primary victim of this corruption-driven denial of essential surgical care.

Sprouts SIT Investigation Demands Immediate Probe and Action

Based on its findings, the Sprouts News Investigation Team demands an immediate independent probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) into the recruitment fraud within NHM Madhya Pradesh. We call for the immediate suspension of Mission Director Saloni Sadana and responsible HR officials for misrepresenting facts to the Government of India. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) must intervene to enforce compliance with Union directives, and a blanket ban must be imposed on recruiting CPS diploma holders in public health services until their qualifications are legally validated.

Editor-in-Chief Unmesh Gujarathi concludes: “When sanctioned surgeons are buried, CPS quacks are welcomed, poor mothers are pushed into private maternity homes, and tribal lives are traded for profit, it is not an error — it is systemic corruption. Sprouts SIT declares NHM Madhya Pradesh guilty of plunging recruitment into chaos while bulldozing fundamental rights.”