Recently, I have come across a news in a leading daily mentioning an amendment to the Indian Medical Council (Professional conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002. The act was aimed to restrict doctors and their associations from taking freebies and favors from pharma companies. Recently, an amendment has been made to delete the words "and professional association of doctors" from section 6.8 of the said law. Earlier, this section read: "code of conduct for doctors and professional association of doctors in their relationship with pharmaceutical and allied health sector industry".
In the amended version, the words "professional association" have been deleted. Whereas the guidelines mentioned a quantum of punishment for doctors on the basis of the value of favors or freebies received from pharma companies. To my knowledge, it takes just seven people to form an association. In…
