M A I N   N E W S

Pepsi, Dabur Endorsements
Cornered, IMA bosses go after whistleblower doc
Put him on notice; action after MCI cracks the whip on association’s chief, secy
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 16
It’s the proverbial tit for tat. In the dock for violating medical ethics by endorsing commercial products in exchange for money, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) bosses have struck back by going after the doctor who blew the lid off the scandalous issue.

Following a complaint by Dr KV Babu, a Kerala Medical Association member, the Medical Council of India (MCI) last month directed that names of IMA national president G Samaram and secretary general Dharam Prakash be removed from the medical register for six months for their unethical conduct in endorsing Pepsi and Dabur products in return for money. As per agreements, the IMA was to get Rs 2.25 crore for three years of the contract (Rs 52 lakh a year from Pepsi; Rs 23 lakh a year from Dabur).

A fortnight ago, all 61 members of the IMA executive were also served show-cause notices for participating in the decision of endorsement and not objecting to it.

Ruffled by the unprecedented MCI action, IMA secretary general Dharam Prakash has shot off a parallel show-cause notice to Babu, charging him with bringing disrepute to the association by complaining against it to the Health Ministry without ever raising the endorsement matter in the IMA’s central council meeting.

“You are directed to submit a written reply to this notice and appear before the disciplinary committee of the IMA in Jaipur on December 27,” Prakash said in the notice that was also signed by Samaram. Both the signatories are facing expulsion from the medical register (something they challenged in the Delhi High Court and secured a stay).

Documents with The Tribune, however, nail the IMA lie. They show that Babu, on May 30, 2008, wrote to the IMA national president asking him to pull out of the objectionable endorsement immediately. Earlier, Babu had raised the mater in the Kerala state working committee of the IMA, which discussed it on May 25, 2008 resolving to contest IMA’s decision to go ahead with unethical endorsements. The IMA, however, turned down the resolution by majority.

Also, Babu never complained directly to the Health Ministry. He also waited for two years for the IMA to respond to his requests before finally going to the MCI. Babu’s letter to IMA president was written on May 30, 2008, and his first complaint to the MCI was made only on April 1, 2010.

Code of Medical Ethics 2002 requires medical practitioners to not just check but also report unethical behaviour. The IMA’s plea that Babu didn’t raise the issue in the central council meet also fails to cut ice because he did take up the matter with those concerned.