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HomeBlogDespite notice, NMC rejects patient appeals against state council orders | India...

Despite notice, NMC rejects patient appeals against state council orders | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The board of the National Medical Commission (NMC) dealing with complaints against doctors continues to reject appeals of patients against decisions of state medical councils claiming that it can only hear appeals by doctors. This is despite a gazette notification of the NMC in Aug last year that reiterated that the commission would continue to follow the Indian Medical Council (Professional conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002, which give patients the right to an appeal against state council decisions.
The Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB) of the NMC had issued a gazette notification on Aug 23, 2023 stating that the NMC “hereby adopts and makes effective with immediate effect the Indian Medical Council (Professional conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002, as if the same have been made by the commission by virtue of the powers vested under the NMC Act, 2019″. It goes on to reiterate: “That for removal of doubt, it is clarified the Indian Medical Council (Professional conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002 shall come into force with immediate effect”.
Section 8.8 of the 2002 regulations states: “Any person aggrieved by the decision of the State Medical Council on any complaint against a delinquent physician, shall have the right to file an appeal to the MCI within a period of 60 days from the date of receipt of the order passed by the said Medical Council.”
However, a patient in Chennai who filed an appeal recently against the state medical council decision in a case of alleged medical negligence was told by NMC that “as per existing NMC Act 2019, only registered medical practitioners can apply on first appeal in NMC”. On Tuesday, the complainant was informed by the ethics section of the NMC that section 8.8 of the 2002 Regulations were abolished on Sep 25, 2020 after all the provisions of the NMC Act, 2019 came into force.
This is not the first time the NMC is doing this. In response to an RTI application in 2022 seeking data on the number of patients’ appeals rejected by the NMC, it admitted that 65 appeals of patients were returned from March to Sep 2022 due to their non-maintainability under section 30(3) of the NMC Act. Unlike 8.8 of the 2002 regulations, which states that anyone can appeal, this section states that “a medical practitioner or professional who is aggrieved by any action taken by a State Medical Council” can appeal to the EMRB.
“Though the NMC has been in office for about four years, EMRB is repeatedly rejecting the appeals by patients against the state medical councils’ decisions. It continues to do that despite EMRB’s gazette notification reiterating that the 2002 regulations are in force, which means that patients have a right to appeal. The NMC is continuing the illegality of rejecting patients’ appeals and the health ministry is not intervening to put a stop to this,” said Dr Babu KV, an ophthalmologist and RTI activist who has been pursuing the issue of patient’s right to appeal being taken away.

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