41 Doctors get Medical Council Rap for Photographs, claims in Advertisements
Dehradun: Terming the practice of publishing photographs of doctors in the advertisements as "unethical", the Uttarakhand Medical Council (UKMC) has recently warned the doctors of future action including suspension of their license if they continue such practices.
In this regard, the State Medical Council in the last six months has issued notices to 41 doctors, who allegedly violated the 'Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics Regulations, 2002' of the Council, reports TOI.
Apart from this, the Council has also warned the doctors against using unnecessary claims regarding their degrees on the advertisements and hoardings, which might result in misleading the public.
Instead, State Medical Council has advised the doctors to comply with the norms of "continuous medical education" and fulfill the requirements of 150 hours of CME credit hours to "revive memory of ethics of the medical profession".
As per the latest media report by the Times of India, warning of taking action, the Council has also directed the doctors to "focus on work and not the limelight". It has clarified that their faces in advertisements were "an embarrassment, a clearcut violation of laws, and unethical".
"Before issuing warnings, we had written a letter to the IMA to inform their doctors not to do unethical advertisements. We had clarified especially that the photographs and unnecessary claims which might mislead the public should not be there in the advertisements," he mentioned.
"For now we have issued warnings to them and asked them to do CME," he further added.
TOI adds that recently medical council took action against a major Dehradun-based hospital for such malpractices. In fact, the Council has now clarified that such practices of using the photographs of doctors on hoardings, and using unnecessary claims on ads might cost the doctors their license to practice as well. "Action by the council may range from suspension to suspension of license," Uttrakhand medical council said.
While commenting on the issue, a member of the state medical council told TOI, "Doctors working as employees of big facilities have been told to convey this message to their administrators. Such malpractices are being promoted by the corporate world for earning money."
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