40 medical practitioners from across the state were also given the responsibility to spread the word in the fraternity that such acts won't be tolerated
The Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) on Tuesday summoned 40 doctors to its office after it received complaints that they had put up advertisements in various media, including social media, to attract patients. After giving them an earful, the council issued them a strict warning, saying their licences would be revoked for up to six months if they were found guilty of the same offence again.
The state medical council is a statutory body, which has powers to suspend a doctor's licence if s/he is found guilty of malpractice. Only those doctors registered with the MMC can practise in Maharashtra and there are 70,000 doctors registered with it.
"We called 40 doctors from different parts of the state on Tuesday after we got complaints that they were issuing advertisements, at times misleading, to woo patients. Since such complaints came to us for the first time, we issued a strict warning to all the 40 doctors and told them that they would lose their licence, which was a must to practise in the state, if they were found committing the same offence again. Also, we gave them the responsibility to spread the word in the medical fraternity that they couldn't indulge in such activity," MMC president Dr Kishor Taori said.
"The Medical Council of India's (MCI's) 'Code of Ethics' lays down that doctors can't issue advertisements. There are certain things like change of address, which they can convey to their patients by putting up boards. But they can't do commercial advertisements like any other product," he added.
The MMC also has plans to issue directives to all medical bodies, including Indian Medical Association (IMA), asking their doctors to restrain from such activity.
After corporate houses entered the medical field, there has been a huge competition in the sector. First they do publicity for their hospitals and gradually they put the names of their doctors in those publicity materials in order to pull patients.
"I think there is a need to stop such practice forthwith. As per ethics, no doctor can issue advertisements. We member doctors definitely do not indulge in such practice, which is against the MCI Code of Ethics. There is no need for doctors to advertise themselves, provided they treat their patients properly," said IMA state president Dr Jayesh Lele.
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