Medical Council warns Tamil Nadu doctors against Revealing name, identities of patients
Chennai: Stating that disclosing the identities of patients will be considered as a form of advertisement, the Tamil Nadu Medical Council (TNMC) recently warned doctors against possible action for this.
Referring to the practice of doctors and hospitals to hold press meeting after completion of any surgery, where they reveal the details and identity of a patient, the President of TNMC, Dr. K Senthil told the media on Friday that such a practice will be considered as an advertisement for the doctors who performed the surgery.
He also made it clear that the doctors cannot advertise themselves by publishing their photographs in any mobile applications, websites, or social media platforms. In fact, the websites of the hospitals have been barred from revealing the details of a doctor's work as well.
However, the hospitals can inform the press about any surgery without revealing details of the patient. Similarly, the hospital websites can mention the names and certifications of the doctors.
The State Medical Council has always been strict regarding advertisements. Medical Dialogues had reported back in 2019 that in an attempt to put a stop to the growing practice of online advertisement, TNMC had served notices to around 100 registered medical practitioners, stepping in to initiate disciplinary action for violating the Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics Regulations of the erstwhile Medical Council of India.
In fact the council had issued an advisory after coming across at least 300 doctors registered doctors who were advertising about themselves, their practice, qualifications, associations, affiliations, honours, and skills in order to solicit patients and professional gain on various platforms. The medical council had warned the doctors in regards to the non-permissible practice and asked them to withhold from such practice.
In the last year as well, the Council had issued warning to the doctors regarding the practice of advertisements. However, since the doctors continued such practices, TNMC decided to hold a press meet and warn the doctors about this, Dr. Senthil told Medical Dialogues.
"We wanted to address the practice of government and private hospitals which introduce the patients to the media after completion of the surgery. The hospitals reveal the identity of the patient, and every details of the surgery. This cannot be done and the council will take action against such doctors," he added.
Dr. Senthil also referred to practice of the treating doctors belonging to Government hospitals to describe the details of the surgeries and the patients in the media. Pointing out the fact that private practice for government doctors is not banned in Tamil Nadu, he explained that revealing of such details can be considered as advertisements by doctors to get more patients. Therefore, the Council has warned the doctors against such practice as well.
Similarly, the website of the hospitals can reveal only the names and qualifications of the doctors, clarified the TNMC chief. Social media is no exception and the doctors cannot advertise themselves in any manner on the social media platforms as well, he mentioned.
Those doctors who shall not comply with these rules shall face severe action including a warning or suspension order, depending on the matter. However, the hospitals can inform the press about the surgeries performed without revealing the details of the patients.
Among other news, Dr Senthil informed Medical Dialogues about the Doctor Search app, which will help patients find doctors instead of quacks. "Tamil Nadu has around 1 lakh 66 thousand doctors and among them around 80,000 doctors have expressed their willingness to be included in the Doctor Search database. The application is available on the Google Play Store," he mentioned. Using this app, the patients can find doctors as per their medical needs using the pin code of their area.
TNMC launched two other initiative on Sunday- Certificate App and the Digital Records Software for doctors. The certificate app will help the doctors easily save the medical records of the patients by simply typing the name, age, sex, investigations and other details of the patients. Such data shall be safely kept in the cloud and the patients will be able to get a copy of the treatment certificate immediately.
On the other hand, by availing the Digital Records Software the doctors can safely keep the Out Patient record, In-patient records of the patients. It includes a Prescription app and a telemedicine app as well. Using the same login and password, 2-3 doctors can avail this service and safely keep the data of their patients on the online database.
Referring to these new initiatives, Dr. Senthil said, "NMC has been insisting in the process of digitalization in the health sector. Although it is not mandatory yet, we decided to start the process now. All these applications are extremely user friendly and the doctors can avail the service for 1/6th of the market rate."
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