Against the backdrop of the alleged medical negligence and overcharging by two private hospitals in Delhi and NCR region, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Monday urged the medical fraternity for introspection even as they sought the State Governments to subsidise emergencies in private sector and create a reimbursement mechanism.
The association, which represents over 1.5 lakh private doctors across the country, also had a word of advice to the hospital management saying that they cannot force their consultants to work on targets and the choice of drugs and devices should rest with doctors based on affordability of a patient.
The IMA’s suggestions follows a furore over the death of a 7-year-old girl due to dengue recently at Gurgaon’s Fortis Hospital which also billed the victim’s family Rs 16 lakh for the treatment besides a premature baby wrongly declared dead by Max Hospital’s Shalimar Bagh unit. The incidents have brought the medical fraternity’s role under cloud.
Talking to reporters, IMA president KK Aggarwal admitted that the doctor-patient trust was experiencing a “downward spiral” in the country as people were looking at the medical profession with suspicion. “Once a treatment is administered, the recuperation of a patient depends upon physical and organic factors. It is unacceptable and absurd to victimise a medical practitioner if a patient does not respond to treatment,” Aggarwal said. Referring to the Max Hospital incident, he said such errors happened by accident and not intentionally.
“Having said this, it is time for the medical profession to introspect and come out with self-regulation procedures. From today onwards, all doctors in the country shall choose affordable drugs.
“We also appeal to the state governments to come out with an urgent ordinance for ‘one drug-one company-one price policy’. Doctors should actively participate in ensuring that no hospital sells any item priced higher than the Market Rate Price (MRP),” he said.