690 Medical Negligence Cases Against Doctors Pending in Maha, Medical council expediting process

Pune: Despite the Maharashtra Medical Council's efforts to clear the backlog of pending medical negligence cases, altogether 690 such cases against doctors are pending to date.

In order to clear these pending cases, the State Medical Council of Maharashtra is expediting its efforts. MMC has resolved 1,600 complaints ranging from minor to serious cases so far.

Confirming that the council is expediting the process, the administrator of MMC, Dr Vinky Rughwani told Indian Express "Over the years, the Council has received over 2,300 complaints related to medical negligence, and we are working to expedite the process further."

Approximately 1.9 lakh doctors are registered with the MMC, which regulates the registration of doctors in the State. This quasi-judicial body is also tasked with regulating medical ethics and education. Recently, MMC launched several initiatives to deal with bogus doctors.

Also Read: Soon in Maharashtra: Doctors to display QR codes at clinics, hospitals to verify credentials

Indian Express has reported that MMC is working on a project to prevent the practice of bogus doctors. The council aims to achieve this goal by ensuring that the registered medical practitioners display individual QR codes at their clinics or hospitals to verify their authenticity. Meanwhile, Dr. Rughwani said that the council was also trying to dispose of some of the complaints on a fast track mode.

"Some are frivolous and indicate that there is a fair amount of hostility against the doctor. Hence we have to check about the applicant’s intention . There are some complaints sent online by the patients about inflated bills. While others also pertain to fake certificates issued by doctors," he said.

Previously, it was not that easy to file a complaint. In order to file a complaint, a patient and their relatives were earlier required to travel from far-off districts in Maharashtra. Referring to this, Dr. Rughwani said, "It was not easy for instance for someone to come to Mumbai all the way from Gadchiroli or Gondia and hence majority of our complaints were from Mumbai, Pune and other cities. However they have been pending for various reasons and now we are trying to expedite the hearing so that they can be disposed of."

He added that after a complaint is reported online, the council asks for declaration from the applicant. Consequently, a show cause notice is issued to the doctor and a hearing is called if the response is not satisfactory. Commenting on this, he said, "We have taken up the work on priority despite limited staff."

As per the Daily, MMC action over the years has also led to the removal of 103 doctors. Dr. Rughwani said in this context, "In some cases the registration of the medical practitioner has been permanently removed while in other cases warnings have been issued. Registration is suspended for a month to even two years in certain cases."

Also Read: Dr Vinky Rughwani nominated to NMC Advisory Board