Surgery by teen: Doctors ask Medical Council to initiate action

CHENNAI: Coming down heavily on a doctor who allegedly allowed his 15-year-old son to perform a caesarean section to set a record, the medical fraternity in Tamil Nadu today appealed to the State Medical Council to initiate disciplinary action against him.

The Tamil Nadu branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), which met here, adopted a resolution to this effect.

State IMA secretary Ravishankar told PTI the executive committee of the Association will meet in the end of July or in the first week of August to decide on cancelling Murugesan's membership of the IMA.

A majority of doctors who attended today's meeting wanted his membership to be cancelled, he said.

Doctors who reportedly witnessed the video of Murugesan's son Dhileepan Raj, a Class 11 student, performing the surgery, attended the meeting and stood by their evidence despite Murugesan's claim that no such footage existed.

"We are waiting for the government's report after the ongoing inquiry into the incident is over. But we are of the firm view that errant doctors should be punished," Ravishankar said.

If the allegations against Murugesan were proved to be true, he and his gynaecologist-wife could be debarred from practising medicine.

The inquiry by the revenue divisional officer into the incident at Manapparai is almost over and a report is expected "any time" now, Tiruchirapalli's District Collector Ashish Vachchani said.