NEW DELHI: For over five years, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has been rejecting hundreds of complaints of medical negligence and misconduct against doctors. Now, finally, the regulatory body is examining the issue.
The turnaround came only after the Union Health Ministry asked the NMC, which regulates medical education, medical professions, institutes and research, to take “necessary action in accordance with law and to apprise the Ministry of the outcome.”
But the rethink and the direction came only after the NMC’s Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB), which regulates professional conduct and promotes medical ethics in the country, rejected as many as 256 appeals by patients and their relatives from September 15, 2020, to January 7, 2026, as per an RTI reply.
The directions from the ministry also came only after RTI activist Dr KV Babu flagged the issue with the ministry last year. Speaking with this newspaper, the Kerala-based Dr Babu pointed out, “As a response to my complaint to the Ministry of Health in October 2025, the Medical Education (Policy) section of the ministry wrote to NMC on January 20 to examine my complaint about rejecting appeals from patients and omissions on the part of NMC members.”
“The EMRB wrote to me on February 5 stating that ‘it is informed to you that the matter is under consideration’,” said Dr Babu. “I believe the response from EMRB is a positive development. EMRB had been repeatedly rejecting appeals from patients against the State Medical Council’s (SMCs) decision from 2020 onwards,” he added.
In his letter to the ministry, Dr Babu also asked the ministry to form an appropriate body to examine alleged acts of omission and commission by certain Registered Medical Practitioners (RMPs) who have flouted the 1.9 of ethics regulations 2002, which means violation of any existing laws in the country is punishable.
Medicos can appeal against SMC decisions
Under the National Medical Commission (NMC) Act 2019, medical professionals can appeal against SMC decisions under Section 30(3) if found guilty of medical negligence. If the EMRB finds their act to be punishable, medical practitioners can make a second appeal under Section 30(4) of the NMC Act. But patients don’t have that right, despite clause 8.8 of the NMC Act (now deleted), added on May 27, 2004, following the Supreme Court’s directions.