NEW DELHI: The failure to seek a legal opinion to understand the rules led to the National Medical Commission (NMC) rejecting patients’ complaints of medical negligence and misconduct against doctors.
If the NMC, a statutory body in India that regulates medical education, medical professionals, institutes, and research, had taken legal opinion, the appeal of 162 patients’ complaints against doctors on medical negligence would not have been rejected, which has been the norm for the past four years.
The NMC discussed the pertinent issue of patients' right to appeal against erring doctors in their meetings, not once but thrice.
But each time, they allowed doctors’ appeals to be heard, and rejected appeals made by patients or their families.
However, the NMC Act does not prohibit patients from filing an appeal to the Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB), said RTI activist Dr K V Babu, who filed a series of RTIs seeking NMC meeting minutes on their decision. The EMRB regulates professional conduct and promotes medical ethics in the country to redress complaints.
According to the documents made available using RTI, the Kerala-based Dr Babu said, “It is seen that the right to appeal by the patients was discussed in three NMC meetings – October 6, 2021, May 1, 2024, and September 23, 2024.”
“Shockingly, in the fourth NMC meeting held on October 6, 2021, it was decided that ‘only medical practitioners or professionals should be allowed to file an appeal before the EMRB and patients should not be allowed to file an appeal before the EMRB under section 30 (3) of the NMC Act 2019,’" he said.
“It is clear that NMC misinterpreted NMC Act section 30 (3) in its 4th meeting,” Dr Babu told TNIE.
“There is nothing to suggest that NMC sought any legal opinion regarding the right to appeal by the patients in their subsequent meetings. Neither the NMC members have the legal acumen to interpret even explicit statutes, nor are they listening to sensible voices from the profession,” the ophthalmologist added.
However, even after it was decided in the 16th meeting of the NMC, whose decision was approved on December 10, 2024, that all appeals received by EMRB will be entertained, the ethics body continued to reject appeals.
Further, Dr Babu said, all the NMC members who attended the meetings are party to this illegality and should be held accountable for rejecting 162 patient appeals during the last four years. “The right to appeal of patients should be reinstated without further delay.”
According to the NMC Act 2019, medical professionals can appeal against State Medical Councils (SMCs) decisions under Section 30 (3) if found guilty of medical negligence. If the EMRB finds their act punishable, medical practitioners can make a second appeal under Section 30 (4) of the NMC Act.
Patients also have that right under 8.8 of ethics regulations 2002 which was inserted on May 27, 2004, following the Supreme Court directions.
As per clause 8.8, any person aggrieved by the decision of the SMCs on any complaint against a delinquent physician shall have the right to file an appeal to the erstwhile Medical Council of India (MCI) within 60 days from receipt of the order passed by the MCI.
The NMC in 2023 August reiterated that regulation 8.8 is still in force, but never enforced it, while the EMRB repeatedly rejected patients' appeals "illegally," added Dr Babu.