NEW DELHI: The Indian Red Cross Society has threatened to drag the Indian Medical Association and Indian Patent Office to court over the IMA’s decision to adopt an emblem similar to the one used by Red Cross Federation worldwide.
The Society, a humanitarian organisation that works for providing relief during disasters and in battle fields and is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movements, uses a Red Cross as its symbol in India and most other countries.
According to The Geneva Convention Act, 1960 which India, too, had signed, the symbol red cross can only be used by the Red Cross society, its affiliate bodies and the military medical unit. Any violation of this clause is a penal offence, the Act says.
However, in a recent development, the IMA, largest association of doctors in the country, has got a copyright to use a similar looking emblem, a slightly less Red Cross with Dr in text, irking the Red Cross Society.
“We are very sensitive about the symbol as it is meant to easily mark out our volunteers in difficult situations like war fields and has a sanctity attached to it,” said Manish Choudhary, deputy secretary of the Society. “There have been instances when individuals and even hospitals have misused our emblem but this is the first case where an association has gone so far as to get a copyright over a lookalike symbol. It’s disappointing that even the patent office did not check with us before granting the trademark.”
He added that the organisation was now looking to challenge the decision legally.
IMA however defended its decision saying that the move was aimed at ensuring a clear identification for MBBS doctors from quacks and practitioners of alternative medicine like Homeopathy, Ayurveda and Unani.
“Nowadays all kinds of practitioners use the prefix doctor in their name and it’s difficult for people to identify allopathic doctors from others. We had been trying to adopt a symbol for last three years and about a hundred proposals were considered before finalising this one,” IMA president K K Aggarwal told this newspaper.
“We have followed all due procedures in obtaining the copyright and are now urging all registered doctors who practice modern medicine to use this symbol on their aprons and establishments,” he added. “I think the symbol adopted by us is markedly different from the the one used by the Red Cross (Society) but if they still have a problem, they should approach the Patent Office.”