NMC revokes relief Granted to jailed Cardiologist
Suspension Order
Ahmedabad: After the Gujarat Medical Council urged the National Medical Commission (NMC) to revoke relief granted to jailed cardiologist Dr. Prashant Vazirani, citing serious threats to public health, the apex medical regulator has vacated its earlier stay on suspending his registration over alleged misconduct in the Khyati Hospital PMJAY scam.
The Apex Medical Commission vacated its stay on April 10 after the GMC wrote to NMC defending the decision to suspend the cardiologist. The state medical council also requested NMC to "immediately" vacate its stay on the Council's order dated November 28, 2024, through which the State Medical Council had suspended the concerned cardiologist for three years.
On Monday, the medical council received the new order issued by the Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB) of NMC vacating the stay order.
As per the latest media report by Indian Express, the new NMC order dated 25.04.2025 mentioned how the Gujarat medical council in its letter dated April 23 had brought forth certain new facts to the notice of EMRB, including the fact of Dr. Vazirani "being arrested and not being granted bail, conducting angioplasties and angiographies while not being empanelled under the PMJAY scheme and the surgeries being conducted without informed consent of patients, and other instances of unethical conduct on part of the doctor."
In the new order, the NMC Secretary, Dr. Raghav Langer, further directed all the parties to submit the relevant case-related documents, investigation report, chargesheet filed in the matter etc. to the EMRB within 10 days from the receipt of the order. This direction has been issued by the Apex Medical Commission to ensure that the appeal made by Dr. Vazirani can be heard and decided on its merits.
Dr. Vazirani was accused of conducting "completely unnecessary" angioplasty surgeries on residents of a village in Mehsana, as part of "the wider conspiracy" to cheat the state exchequer under the PMJAY scheme.
Medical Dialogues has been reporting about the PMJAY scam that came to light in November 2024, when two patients, who attended a free medical camp organised by Khyati Hospital under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), passed away due to postoperative complications following Angioplasty procedures.
This incident caused widespread outrage as an angioplasty was performed at the hospital on 19 patients, and two of them died, while 5 others were kept on ventilation. These 19 people were brought to Khyati Hospital by ambulance for treatment after they attended the free health checkup camp in Borisna village of Kadi taluka on November 10. Around 80 to 90 people were examined at the camp.
Also Read: PMJAY Botched Angioplasty Case: Court denies bail to Khyati Hospital Director
Following this, three FIRs were registered, two at the behest of the kin of the deceased and one by a doctor from the Government-appointed panel. During the investigations, it was revealed that the hospital performed unnecessary angioplasty procedures on several PMJAY cardholders to siphon off government money. The inquiry committee constituted by the State government in its preliminary probe found that the deceased did not require the heart procedure.
Dr Prashant Vazirani was the doctor who reportedly carried out the said surgeries. Following this, he was arrested along with hospital CEO Rahul Jain, marketing director Chirag Rajput, marketing executive Milind Patel, and his two assistants, Pankil Patel and Pratik Bhatt, and directors Rajshree Kothari and Sanjay Patolia.
Following his arrest, the medical council decided to debar his registration for three years in November 2024. Challenging this decision, Dr Vazirani filed an appeal to the NMC in December 2024, which is still pending.
Meanwhile, in an order dated April 10, 2025, NMC stayed the Gujarat Medical Council order debarring the registration of Dr. Vazirani. The NMC referred to a previous 2022 judgment by the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court in a similar case, saying that immediate action could cause “irreparable harm” to the doctor before his appeal is fully heard.
However, the council on April 24 wrote to NMC requesting the latter to vacate the stay adding that if the stay continued, "it would pose a significant threat to public health and undermine trust in the medical regulatory framework.
The State Council had highlighted that unwarranted angiography and angioplasty surgeries were performed on unsuspecting villagers in order to illicitly claim benefits under the PMJAY scheme and how Dr. Vazirani was arrested and has not been granted bail yet.
Terming NMC's decision to grant a stay on the council order shocking, the Gujarat Medical Council mentioned that the top medical regulatory body decided to grant the stay without hearing the Gujarat Government through the department concerned as well as without calling for case-related documents from the State council.
Now NMC has vacated its stay order and in the latest order dated April 25, it mentioned, "...after going through the contents of the communication dated April 23, 2025, of GMC, and material facts provided therein, EMRB, after careful consideration, hereby vacates the ex-parte stay order dated April 10, 2025."
Also Read: NMC stays debarment of cardiologist jailed in Khyati Hospital Scam
