Kerala Medical Council slaps penalty on doctor for advertising unethical, unrecognised qualification

Thiruvananthapuram: Taking action against a doctor for allegedly advertising an additional qualification, which is neither recognised as a medical qualification nor registered, the Kerala State Medical Council (Council of Modern Medicine) has imposed a penalty on him. 

The concerned doctor practises modern medicine in Kannur. The Kerala State Medical Council has ordered him to pay a Rs 10,000 penalty after it received a complaint in this regard filed by the Payyannur branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), as per the Hindu report.

After receiving the complaint, the Ethics Committee of the Medical Council scrutinised the matter and found the complaint against Dr. Nayanar to be true. 

Also Read: After Telangana, Now Jharkhand Medical Council warns Doctors against displaying Unrecognized Medical Qualifications

As per the latest media report by The Hindu, in its complaint to the Registrar of KSMC, the IMA Payyannur branch secretary pointed out that Dr. Nayanar had violated provisions of 1.4.2 of the Ethics Regulations 2002, as per which physicians should display only recognised medical degrees or such certificates/diplomas/memberships/honours which confer professional knowledge or recognises any exemplary qualification/achievements, as suffix to their names.

The complainant also produced photographic evidence of the billboard advertising the practice of the said doctor. It was submitted that Dr. Nayanar cited diplomas such as "PG Diploma in Cardiology (Non-invasive)" and "CCCDS (Certificate Course in Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke, Public Health Foundation of India)" as his additional qualifications, reports The Hindu.

Even though these are capacity-building courses aimed to equip primary care physicians with knowledge and skills to manage cardiovascular disease and stroke, these are not medical degrees recognised under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, Therefore, the complainant pointed out that since these are not medical degrees, they cannot be registered with the state medical council and cannot be advertised as additional qualifications by practising doctors. 

Further, the complainant argued that the doctor also violated provisions 7.13 of the Ethics Regulations, which states that, "it is improper for a physician to use an unusually large sign board and write on it anything other than his name, qualifications obtained from a university or a statutory body, titles and name of his speciality, registration number, including the name of the State Medical Council under which registered."

Another ethical violation that IMA highlighted was regarding the display board in Dr. Nayanar's clinic, which advertised the name of another doctor, whose qualifications included "BDS, Cosmetologist (PGDCC) PMU".

Referring to this, IMA argued that the board displayed in the clinic clearly showed that a dental doctor with a BDS qualification was claiming to be a cosmetologist. Referring to this, the complaint said that this was also a clear violation of Ethics Regulations 1.9, which states that a "physician shall observe the laws of the country in regulating the practice of medicine and shall also not assist others to evade such laws."

After scrutinising the matter, the Ethics Committee of the Council found the complaint to be true. KSMC pointed out that practising medicine by displaying unrecognised qualifications is a serious offence. Accordingly, it asked the doctor to pay Rs 10,000 as a penalty.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that back in 2023, the Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB) of the National Medical Commission (NMC) had warned the State Medical Councils about the use of fake/unrecognized qualifications by doctors and asked the State Medical Bodies to spread awareness about the NMC regulations in this regard especially in respect of the punitive action that the doctors may face for this reason.

NMC wrote to the State Medical Councils after taking note of instances where registered medical practitioners claimed to be a specialist despite not having the requisite qualifications in a particular branch.

To make public and unregistered doctors aware of such unethical practices, the Commission felt it necessary to spread the message against this practice of using fake medical degrees by registered medical practitioners, along with the punitive actions that the doctors might face for this reason.

Also Read: NMC Warning: Doctors to face punitive action for displaying unrecognised qualifications