Health Bulletin 09/ December/ 2024

The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission-III, Hyderabad recently directed a hospital, and two associated doctors to jointly compensate Rs 10 lakh to a complainant for negligence leading to the death of his mother.

The District Consumer Court granted compensation to the complainant after concluding that the treating doctors and hospital acted 'hastily and negligently' in treating his mother/patient with multiple procedures at one go, despite being aware of the fact that the patient was not prepared for the subsequent procedure of Angioplasty with stenting except for the Angiogram which was originally planned.

Terming the State Government's practice of appointing Assistant Professors on a contractual basis in the government medical colleges as "unsustainable", the Orissa High Court recently directed the State Government to expedite the regular recruitment of posts of Assistant Professors through the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC).

"This Court underscores that the persistent practice of appointing contractual employees to positions such as Assistant Professor in medical institutions is unsustainable. These posts must be filled through regular appointments to ensure the integrity and stability of the academic and medical framework. The Government is directed to ensure that the OPSC initiates the recruitment process as expeditiously as possible for filling these positions with regular appointees, thereby addressing the prevailing culture of complacency and ad-hoc arrangements in public service," observed the HC bench comprising Justice S K Panigrahi.

The Bombay High Court recently upheld the PG medical admission rule as per which domiciled candidates who obtained MBBS degree outside the State will be eligible for State Quota seats only if they have secured admission to the MBBS course under the All-India Quota in any Government Medical College or the All India Institute of Medical Sciences or any other Central Government Institution.

While upholding this criteria for PG medical admission domiciled candidates, the HC bench comprising Justices B.P. Colabawalla and Justice Somasekhar Sundaresan observed that such a condition underscored that such a condition helps in filtering of strong credentials and merit for an outside MBBS graduate to be let into the State Quota in Maharashtra.

Granting relief to a medical student having a 70% hearing impairment, the Supreme Court recently allowed her to appear in NEET PG counselling.

Filing the plea before the Supreme Court, the candidate challenged the disability clause under the Post-Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2023, as per which a person with a hearing disability of 40% or more would be ineligible for admission to postgraduate medical courses.