Maharashtra medical council, the state governing body which investigates cases of medical negligence, will finally be active after a 12-year-long wait.
Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC), the state governing body which investigates cases of medical negligence, will finally be active after a 12-year-long wait. This will be a major relief for patients who are waiting to get justice in medical negligence cases.
The council will now have the right to suspend a doctors’ licence, sometimes for life, depending on the nature of the medical negligence offence. In the last few years, about 400-450 cases of alleged medical negligence have piled up with the council, waiting to be cleared.
The MMC was formed in 1965 and thereafter elections were held every five years. But in 1999, following a court verdict, the elections were declared void after objections were raised about its process and an administrator was appointed instead. Currently Dr DN Lanjewar is the administrator. The body has a major role to play in cases of medical negligence as the police often do not take immediate cognisance of such cases (they have to wait for committee reports by doctors at government hospitals, which can take over a year). And patients and relatives often choose to quit the fight because of the long wait.
The body will also continue to maintain a roster of registered medical practitioners. They will also prescribe a code of ethics to regulate the professional conduct. Dr Shivkumar Utture, an elected member of MMC said, “We are glad we got a green signal from the medical education department to form the body. We will appoint the president, vice president and secretary from the 18-member team in a month. We will be discussing a plan of action during our first meeting, expected to be held in May.”
“The quasi-judicial body will have powers to take action against doctors if they are found guilty in any case of medical negligence. They will decide the penalty according to the seriousness of the offence, they will also have the right to suspend the doctors’ registration for life,” said SS Galinde, registrar, MMC, which has its office near Arthur Road jail.
The 18-members council includes 9 doctors, elected 2 years ago from among the 76,000 doctors registered. According to the Maharashtra Medical Council Act 1965, apart from the 9 elected members, the government nominates 5 members to the body. Also one member will be appointed from the College of Physicians and Surgeons; another member from Maharashtra University of Health Science. Two other ex-officio members from the Directorate of Medical Education and Directorate of Health Services will also be appointed.
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