No need for Doctors to Share Contact Details with Patients: High Court

• All private hospitals should maintain a register containing the contact details of all doctors working with them.


• The hospital should furnish this information to patients upon request.


• Failure to maintain a register to provide information would be treated as a deficiency of service under the Consumer Protection Act.

Subsequent to the issuance of the order, the Kerala Unit of Indian Medical Association moved to the High Court, arguing that the commission’s directive was an infringement of the privacy of doctors.

Informing the high court about the doctors’ work hours in the state, IMA State Secretary Dr N Sulphi, averred, “The doctors are already stressed with the workload and if the patients start calling them their work will become 24X7, which is humanly impossible. The specialist doctors work for 10 to 12 hours a day. It will be difficult for them if the patients start contacting them.”

The IMA stated before the court that only the duty doctors and hospital authorities should be allowed to contact the doctors in case of an emergency, reports TOI.

“Hospitals are in possession of the contact details of all doctors working. Once doctors are out of the hospital after the duty hours, the duty doctors or other emergency staff can contact them at any time,” Dr Sulphi stated.

Agreeing with the association’s case, the high court, in its order, held that the doctors can share their contact details on their own and it cannot be made mandatory through an order or by law.