IMA’s national president Goparaju Samaram and secretary Dharam Prakash have been removed from the Indian medical register for six months, which means they cannot practise as doctors in this period.
Sending a strong signal to doctors endorsing products for private companies, Medical Council of India (MCI) has banned top office-bearers of Indian Medical Association (IMA) from practising medicine for six months.
IMA’s national president Goparaju Samaram and secretary Dharam Prakash have been removed from the Indian medical register for six months, which means they cannot practise as doctors in this period.
The action was taken following a complaint that IMA was endorsing products for private companies. Earlier, MCI had issued warnings to IMA and affiliated associations to refrain from endorsing such products.
This is probably the first time IMA office-bearers have been punished, though MCI has been taking action against doctors on a case-to-case basis. The association reportedly endorses about six products, including Dettol and Aquaguard.
MCI has also issued a censure letter to all executive committee members of IMA warning them not to repeat such practices.
“The ministry received a complaint relating to endorsement of some food products by Indian Medical Association in 2009. The complaint was forwarded to MCI for appropriate action. The ethics committee of MCI, at its meeting held on November 9, 2010, considered the matter and decided to remove the name of the president and secretary of IMA from the Indian medical register for a period of six months and issue a censure letter to all executive committee members of IMA to not repeat such practices in future,” minister for health and family welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad said in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on Friday.
“There is a code of medical ethics in place, according to which no doctor or association can endorse products. There is a watchdog in the government and a group of people is monitoring all such endorsements,” SK Sareen, chairman of MCI’s board of governors had told DNA earlier.
He said MCI had jurisdiction over not only doctors but also their associations. “If doctors can’t, even IMA cannot,” Sareen said.
MCI has sent show-cause notices to all doctors and associations found prima facie endorsing products. It is learnt that roughly 50% of IMA’s funds come from endorsements.
Dharam Prakash, however, denied having received any information from MCI, while Samaram refused comment.
IMA vice-president Vijay Shankar Singh said, “As far as I know, no new products have been endorsed and the one at present are part of old agreements, most of which will expire in a year or so.” He said the matter would be taken up at a meeting of the IMA working committee in Vijayawada on November 22.
Singh said as a fallout of the MCI decision, Prakash and Samaram would have to quit IMA posts. “If the two are not doctors even for six months, they cannot hold IMA posts,” he said.
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