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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Rules but no policing on gifts to doctors

Rules but no policing on gifts to doctors

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published Published on Feb 16, 2010   modified Modified on Feb 16, 2010

The Medical Council of India which has issued guidelines that call on doctors to reject gifts and sponsorships from drug companies today indicated that it was not in a position to police the norms.

The MCI, the apex regulator of medical education and practice in the country, has issued a code of conduct that prohibits doctors from accepting gifts, payments, or travel assistance and hospitality from pharmaceutical companies.

Sections of the medical community attending a conference on medical ethics today expressed concern about how these guidelines should be enforced.

Some doctors have argued that without enforcement mechanisms, the practice of doctors being offered and accepting gifts and travel hospitality could continue — perhaps even turning payments into pure cash transactions.

A senior MCI official who was involved in pencilling the new code of ethics today told the conference that the guidelines should be viewed as an extension of self-regulation and not enforceable as a criminal or civil code.

“No policing can be done — we can investigate only when a case is brought to our notice. It is not by suo motu intervention,” said Ved Prakash Mishra, head of the academic cell of the MCI. “And the defendant will get a full opportunity to explain things. The onus of proof is on the accuser,” he told the meeting of doctors, industry representatives and non-government organisations.

However, MCI president Ketan Desai said state medical councils are empowered to take action against doctors found guilty of violating the code of ethics. But he told the conference that the industry would also need to curb such practices.

He said an industry representative had recently told him that the industry would now have to switch over from making cheque payments (to doctors) to handing over cash. “We need restraints from both sides,” he said.

But some doctors are unhappy at clauses in the guidelines that allow invited speakers at medical conferences to receive support.

One doctor at the conference also warned that associations of doctors — rather than individuals — could accept funds, and use them to support individual doctors, thus circumventing existing guidelines. “If that begins to happen, we will again rewrite our guidelines,” Desai said.


The Telegraph, 16 Februaury, 2010, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100217/jsp/nation/story_12116019.jsp
 

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