Acceptance of commission by docs against medical code: Vardhan

Admitting to presence of widespread nexus between doctors and diagonistic centres to fleece patients, Health and Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan today said acceptance of commission by doctors was violative of the medical code and ordered an inquiry into a television expose on the issue.

"The President of Medical Council of India (MCI)... has been asked to summon an emergency meeting of its Ethics Committee and post the minutes of the said meeting on its website," the Minister said in a statement in Parliament on the television expose on collusion between doctors and pathological laborary/diagonistic centres.

Television channel News Nation through a sting programme 'Operation Jonk' exposed the secret deals between some dishonest doctors and pathological laboratries and diagonstic centres in the national capital.

It suggested that some doctors were collecting between 30-50 per cent commissions for tests like MRI, CT scan, ultra sound and routine pathological tests.

The Minister underlined the need for codefication of laws relating to clinical/diagnostic examination and added he would constitute a panel of reputed medical practitioners and consumer law experts to suggest measures for introducing greater transparency and accountability in medical practices.

Taking serious note of the expose, Vardhan said "it is time to check retrogressive tendencies that have crept into sectors of the medical economy, therby leading to the thriving of corrupt clusters affecting the image of the community."

Observing that the entire medical community cannot be held guitly for such malpractices, Vardhan said there was need to identify the guilty persons and bar them from the medical profession.

"The Ministry...does not accept a broad-brush depiction of the medical community as guilty of such malpractices. However, it is felt that some individuals who are indulging in such unethical conduct should be identified and disqualified from practicing the noble profession of the physician," he said.

The Minister said he wrote a letter to the MCI president "pointing out that the practice of accepting commissions is in clear violation of MCI's Code of Ethics, 2002 under 'Regulations of Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics for registered medical practicioners."

He further said the Health Secretary will conduct an impartial inquiry into the facts brought out by the television programme. The News Nation TV channel has been asked to submit DVD and a copy of the script to facilitate the inquiry, the Minister added.

Patients and consumers, Vardhan said, "need protection from such nefarious practices that have come to thrive under conditions created by lack of implementation of existing laws/rules/codes and insufficient governmental oversight.

"It is necessary to bring under some degree of oversight the trade practices employed by pathological laboratries,diagnostic centres...The laissez faire spirit that dominates this business in India works to the disadvantage of the consumer and needs correction."

Acknowledging that extant civil laws governing medical negilegence do not explicitly cover such practices, Vardhan said the right of patients and rational prescriptions, including referral to justified clinical/diagnostic examinations need to be codified in new legislations.  Referring to the television expose, Vardhan said it is suggestive of an "all prevasive" racket between doctors and pathological/diagnostic centres as well as "cartelisation".

"Though doctors are not individually named, it should not be difficult to get the facts because the programme has revealed that the commissions are paid through the issuance of monthly or weekly cheques," he added.

This racket is leading to "unjustified profit margins", he said, adding even after paying a hefty commission of as much as 50 per cent on expensive tests like MRI, the clinics are reporting good profits.

The expose has also revealed a kind of cartelisation in the medical economy of Delhi, as private laboratories and diagnostic centres charge roughly the same amounts for pathological tests and clinical examinations.

"Patients have no option but to pay the exorbitant fees. They are also subjected to unnecessary tests by the doctors who are guided by lucre of commissions. This exacerbates their physical and mental agony," the Minister said.