The health ministry, in a response to a question on whether the National Medical Commission (NMC) was biased towards doctors, said the ethics regulation of 2002 provided for complaints against doctors, TOI reported.
However, NMC's ethics section is rejecting all patient appeals claiming that the NMC Act prevails over the 2002 ethics regulation.
The NMC Act says doctors can appeal against state medical council decisions. Keeping this as a reference, the ethics section has been dismissing all appeals filed by patients claiming that only doctors can file an appeal, even though it is against the law.
The NMC Act clearly states that “the rules and regulations made under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, shall continue to be in force and operate till new standards or requirements are specified under this Act or the rules and regulations made thereunder”.
This still stands as the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002 has not been replaced.
Clause 8.8 of the 2002 ethics regulation states, “Any person aggrieved by the decision of the State Medical Council on any complaint against a delinquent physician, shall have the right to file an appeal to the MCI within a period of 60 days from the date of receipt of the order passed by the said Medical Council”. Yet, over 162 appeals of patients have been rejected by the NMC.In the reply. Minister of State for health Anupriya Patel stated that “to ensure that the NMC functions in a transparent and fair manner”, the central government appoints the chairperson and presidents of four autonomous boards as per the NMC Act 2019. This is, however, not transparent as even the minutes of the meetings of the NMC and its autonomous boards are not available in the public domain as used to be the case with the erstwhile Medical Council of India.
Further, autonomous boards, including the posts of presidents are currently vacant as the government having failed to make appointments for over 10 months.
A few minutes of the meetings, sought through RTI saw that most non-doctor ex-officio members hardly ever attend meetings and hence most decisions are taken by commission members, almost most of whom are doctors. About 20 of the 33-member commission are lawyers.
“I have complained to the health ministry and the law ministry by registered post about NMC rejecting patient appeals and hence I have proof. So, the health ministry cannot claim to have not received any complaints,” said Gokul Aneja, husband of a victim of alleged medical negligence, who appealed against the decision of the Punjab state medical council, only to have his appeal rejected twice.