Rs 1 lakh fine, 3-month suspension from medical register: Kerala Doctor penalised for misrepresenting speciality qualifications
Kerala State Medical Council
Thiruvananthapuram: Taking strict action against a doctor, the Kerala State Medical Council (Council of Modern Medicine) has decided to remove his name from the State Medical Register for three months for practising with unrecognised and unregistered qualifications.
Apart from removing the name, the Council has also imposed a penalty of Rs 1 lakh on the doctor. It was noted that the doctor had allegedly ignored prior warnings and repeated directives of the council, The Hindu has reported.
The Council received a complaint in 2022 stating that the concerned doctor, a registered medical practitioner in Thiruvananthapuram, was displaying unrecognised and unregistered additional qualifications while in clinical practice.
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Consequently, the Ethics Committee of the Modern Medicine Council summoned the doctor on June 14, 2022, for a personal hearing. During the hearing, the doctor mentioned that even though he appeared for the DNB (Medicine) examination after training from 2007 to 2010, the result was not declared, The Hindu has reported.
The doctor claimed that he had obtained an MD in Medicine in 2016 and a PhD in Medicine in 2019 from Nicaragua, Central America. He also claimed that he had applied for an equivalency certificate from the National Medical Commission (NMC) and that the registration process had been initiated with NMC.
Further, the doctor submitted that he had been practising at Jubilee Memorial Hospital since 2019 and also asserted that he was unaware that unregistered medical qualifications should not be displayed for medical practice. Back then, he also gave an undertaking to the council to take corrective action, and he tendered an apology.
However, the Ethics Committee found that the claim that he had applied for an equivalency certificate was misleading, as the NMC does not issue such a certificate.
The degrees displayed by the doctor were not listed as NMC's recognised qualifications and he allegedly practised for three years using these qualifications.
Accordingly, the Council imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 and directed the doctor to remove the unregistered qualifications from his name board, official seal, and prescription pads, and to submit documentary proof to the Council.
However, he only paid the fine of Rs 50,000 and allegedly refused to comply with the rest of the directives, even after a reminder was sent to him, adds the daily.
Earlier this year, on February 22, during a surprise inspection at Jubilee Memorial Hospital, the Council found that the doctor was continuing to practice, displaying the qualifications, MD (Medicine), PG in Diabetology, and FCCM (Critical Care in FC).
Thereafter, the council issued a show cause notice to the doctor and directed him to appear before the Council. Appearing before the Council on June 21, the doctor blamed the hospital administration for including the qualifications on the board placed outside his consulting room.
He also claimed that after receiving the show-cause from the Council, he had instructed the hospital authorities to remove the unregistered qualifications from the name board. However, he admitted that he was using the same qualifications in other areas where he had clinical practice, "thinking that the instructions by the council applied only to the practice at Jubilee Memorial Hospital."
Then, the Council held him accountable for repeatedly ignoring its directives and continuing his unauthorised practice even though he had paid a penalty for the same offence in 2022.
Now, on July 3, the Council directed to remove his name be removed from the State Medical Register for three months, noting that he had neglected his professional responsibility to ensure accurate and lawful public representation, reports Hindu.
The doctor was also directed to implement corrective measures, not to display unregistered qualifications and not to claim to be a specialist till he was duly qualified to do so.
Challenging the Council's decision, the doctor can now appeal before the Ethics and Medical Registration Board of the National Medical Commission as per Section 30(3) of the NMC Act, 2019, and as per Clause 8.8 of the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that 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) imposed a penalty on him.
The Council 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).
