Doraha, August 24
A high-level meeting of the Punjab unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) was organised by the Doraha-Sahnewal branch of the association at the Sidhu School of Nursing in Doraha today.
In a press note issued jointly by Dr Kuldip Singh, state president, IMA, Dr Amrik Singh Arora, state secretary, IMA, and Dr Raman Agawam, press secretary, IMA, Punjab, the association resented the process of registration of cases against doctors in cases of alleged medical negligence or death of the patient during the course of treatment.
The doctors said such a situation had created a fear psychosis in the minds of the doctors and they were living under stress and fear of being falsely implicated under various sections of the IPC or CrPC.
They said Section 88 of the IPC gave full immunity to doctors in case of medical mishaps. They said Sections 302, 304 and 304-A were now being wrongfully applied to cases of alleged medical negligence leading to the death of patients in hospitals.
“The process of registration of a case against a doctor needs to be streamlined. Further, the investigation is done by policemen who have no medial background and are unable to understand the intricacies of medical science. Therefore, doctors with high integrity are put behind bars for no fault of theirs,” they said.
The doctors stated that a memorandum in this regard had been submitted to the Chief Secretary by the IMA. They demanded that a committee comprising of an SP-level police official, a Civil Surgeon, a nominee of the IMA, a doctor of that speciality and a legal expert should hold an inquiry whenever a case was registered against a doctor and further action should be taken only on the recommendations of the committee.
They said a person who was not enrolled on the state Medical Register within the ambit of the MCI Act, 1956, could not practise the modern system of medicine i.e. allopathy. They said various High Court and Supreme Court judgements had gone against ayurvedic doctors practising allopathy. They said the registration of ayurvedic and NIMA doctors existed in the Register for Indian Medicine maintained by the ayurvedic board and it gave the right to practise ayurvedic medicine only. The IMA challenged the NIMA leadership for an open debate on the issue. They said the association had submitted a memorandum to the Punjab Government and in case the government did not take action, the IMA would be compelled to file a contempt petition.
The doctors alleged that the Punjab Government had failed to check quackery. No periodic checks are being carried out by any Civil Surgeon as instructed by the High Court, they said. The Punjab IMA is planning to file a contempt petition to enforce action against quacks.
They demanded that the NPA should be renamed as “compensatory pay” and continued in its present form and paid to all doctors.
They said providing infrastructure, providing medicine, posting doctors at their native villages and setting up an internal vigilance cell consisting of the SMO, Sarpanch and Nambardars would go a long way in curbing absenteeism among doctors. The doctors urged members of the IMA to shun commercial advertising and other unethical practices. The office-bearers said the IMA was planning to make a federation of all medical bodies in the state.
Dr Jagmohan Singh, president, and Dr Gursaran Kaur Sidhu, secretary of the IMA’s Doraha unit, thanked the panel of doctors and said such meetings would be organised at various levels from time to time in the near future.
