According to The New Indian Express report, responding to an RTI filed by Kerala-based health activist Dr KV Babu, pointing out that NMC was misleading the ministry and the parliament, the Union Health Ministry, in its September 19 response, said, "With reference to your representation, it is informed that the matter is being examined in consultation with NMC as per statutory provisions."
As per the RTI reply, the Ministry will examine the issue in consultation with the NMC, the apex medical education regulatory body in India, which also regulates medical professionals, institutes, and research.
Patients and their families could earlier challenge the decisions of the State Medical Councils before the erstwhile Medical Council of India (MCI). Over the last five years, since the NMC replaced the MCI, hundreds of complaints of medical negligence and misconduct against doctors have been rejected by the Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB) of the Commission. Till June 2025, the Ethics Board of NMC has rejected as many as 162 appeals by patients against doctors.
The Commission has reportedly been rejecting patients' appeals, asserting that only medical practitioners could file an appeal before the NMC under the National Medical Commission Act 2019.
Also Read: Patients can file appeals against state medical councils orders: NMC
These appeals were rejected as per Section 30(3) of the NMC Act 2019 which states, "(3) A medical practitioner or professional who is aggrieved by any action taken by a State Medical Council under sub-section (2) may prefer an appeal to the Ethics and Medical Registration Board against such action, and the decision, if any, of the Ethics and Medical Registration Board thereupon shall be binding on the State Medical Council, unless a second appeal is preferred under sub-section (4)."
NMC's stand to reject patients' appeals faced criticism from Health Activist Dr. KV Babu, who had been arguing over the last couple of years that the patients have the right to file an appeal against the state medical council's decision under the Ethics Regulations 2002, 8.8, which states that "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."
As per the latest media report by The New Indian Express, the issue is now being examined by the Health Ministry, which decided to consult NMC after Dr. Babu pointed out that the Government was being "misled" by the Commission on the matter. He highlighted the matter after Union MoS Health, Anupriya Patel, in a parliamentary reply on July 22, informed that no report had been received by the Ministry regarding the NMC's lack of transparency and bias in favour of doctors at the expense of patients.
Minister Patel was responding to a query raised by AIADMK MP Dr M. Thambidurai, who inquired about reports that doctors are being favoured and the NMC lacks transparency.
While the Ministry said that no such report had been received, the doctor claimed that NMC misled the Ministry when it denied that doctors were being favoured, as the Ministry had sought its response to a parliamentary question.
Highlighting the issue, the doctor had written to the NMC Ethics committee on June 22, 2025, and he had also communicated with the Ministry in July 2022 regarding the bias against the patients. However, NMC, in response to the query from the Ministry on July 18 that the Ethics Division of NMC did not receive any such reports.
Therefore, after the Ministry's reply in the parliament, he filed another RTI and pointed out that NMC was 'misleading' the Ministry and the parliament. In response to the RTI, the Union Health Ministry on September 19 informed, "With reference to your representation, it is informed that the matter is being examined in consultation with NMC as per statutory provisions."
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that back in 2023, the Central Government put the proposal to amend the NMC Act 2019 allowing the patients and their relatives to challenge the decisions of the State Medical Councils (SMCs) before the NMC Ethics Board on hold. This was revealed by the authorities in response to a Right to Information (RTI) application filed by Health Activist Dr KV Babu. The proposal for amending the NMC Act 2019 was put forth by the Government itself. However, it was not enacted.
Later, NMC decided to take up their appeals against the state medical councils' orders. The Commission decided that all appeals by the Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB) would be entertained. NMC mentioned this decision in the minutes of the 16th meeting held on 23rd September 2024, a copy of which was shared with Dr. K V Babu, who filed an RTI application in this regard.
As per the document, the issue of taking a policy decision regarding the disposal of non-medico complaints not decided by the State Medical Councils within the prescribed time limit was the agenda of the 14th meeting of the NMC Ethics Board. Agreeing that all appeals received by EMRB would be entertained, the Commission further decided to send a communication by EMRB to the State Medical Councils to complete the process in a time-bound manner. Despite such a decision, NMC continued rejecting appeals by non-medical persons.
Also Read: Patient's appeal allowed or not? Confusion persists over NMC rejection
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