Disciplinary action against errant doctors has become a charade of justice delivery as directions by the Medical Council of India (MCI) to many state medical councils (SMCs) are being ignored and the errant doctors continuing to practise. This has rendered farcical the travails of hundreds of people who travel to Delhi repeatedly, often over months, to attend hearings on cases of medical negligence and other complaints against doctors in the MCI. Despite its orders being ignored, the MCI too has failed to take any action.
In a complaint to MCI president Dr Jayshreeben Mehta, Dr Kunal Saha, president of the non-profit People for Better Treatment (PBT), pointed out that though the medical watchdog had taken disciplinary action in recent times and directed various SMCs to suspend the registration of errant doctors, they were refusing to act. In most cases, the SMC had either not found…
