KATHMANDU, Dec 14: After Kathmandu University (KU) initiated the process last month to take action against the doctors who were found involved in plagiarism, Tribhuvan University's (TU) Institute of Medicine (IOM) is also preparing to grill the doctors over the matter.
After a series of news reports were published in Republica and Nagarik dailies about their plagiarism, KU has already began the process to take action against the the doctors, who are lecturers, involved. KU is all set to discontinue or terminate the contracts with doctors involved in plagiarism, according to sources.
"We have taken it seriously and are preparing to investigate into the plagiarism issue soon," said Prof Dr JP Agrawal, dean at IOM. "Now, we are busy with MBBS enrollment process. Once this process is completed, we will start a probe into the plagiarism issue," he added.
The secrets of the grill
The doctors associated with both TU and KU were found involved in copying the research papers of others as their own original study papers.
A research paper titled, 'A prevalence of thyroid dysfunction in Kathmandu University Hospital, Nepal', which was authored by doctors Madhukar Aryal, Prabin Gyawali, Nirakar Rajbhandari and Pratibha Aryal and published in the Biomedical Research journal in 2010 was plagiarized and published as 'A Prevalence of Thyroid Disorder in Western Part of Nepal' by doctors Raj Kumar Yadav of Gangalal Medical College, Namrata Thapa Magar of Gandaki Medical College, Bibek Paudel of Manipal College of Medical Sciences, all in Pokhara, Naval Kishor Yadav of Manipal College of Medical Sciences, and Binod Kumar Yadav of the IOM, Kathmandu.
Likewise, a research paper titled 'Association of Thyroid Dysfunction among Infertile Women Visiting Infertility Center of Om Hospital, Kathmandu Nepal' and authored by Dr Bhola Rijal, Dr R Shrestha and Dr Bharat Jha was plagiarised in a paper titled 'Association of Thyroid Dysfunction Among Infertile Women Visiting Nepalgunj Medical College Hospital, Kohalpur, Nepal'. This plagiarised paper was published jointly by doctors Mukesh Kumar Shreewastawa, C Thanpari, RK Goit, NK Yadav, RK Mittal and V Rohil.
Among the six researchers, Dr Shrewastawa, Dr Thanpari, Dr Goit, and Dr Mittal are associated with Kathmandu University and Nepalgunj Medical College while Dr Yadav is associated with Kathmandu University and Manipal College of Medical Sciences, Pokhara, and Dr Rohil was associated as assistant professor with Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute, University of Delhi, India.
Likewise, another research paper titled 'DYSLIPIDEMIA IN TYPE-2 DIABETES MELLITUS PATIENTS IN WESTERN NEPAL: A Hospital Based Study' was published by doctors Shrewastwa, Thanpari, Yadav, Mittal, and Rohil. This research paper was copied entirely from a paper titled 'Dyslipidemias in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients in Nnewi South-East Nigeria', which was published in the Annals of African Medicine Vol 10, No 4; 2011 by a research team in Nigeria.
