Presence Of Delhi Medical Council Not Felt At Ground Level, Needs To Be More Effective And Pro-Active: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court on Friday said that the presence and control of the Delhi Medical Council (DMC) is not felt at the ground level and the statutory body needs to be more effective and pro-active.

“DMC has to be a little more effective. It is not having the desired impact,” a division bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Mini Pushkarna said.

The court issued notice on a public interest litigation seeking a time bound verification of medical qualifications and educational certificates of all the medical practitioners practising across the city.

“You need to be a little more efficient…your presence is not being felt at the ground level….You are not visible at the ground level. People and the society must have some confidence,” the court orally told DMC's counsel.

It added that the DMC has the responsibility of taking action against the corrupt practices and should not just react on the basis of complaints made to it.

“You (DMC) must act on your own. You must have control of your own,” the bench said.

It added: “We can only ensure that you get motivated and you perform better.”

Furthermore, the bench also remarked that the DMC must ensure that its presence is felt and the corrupt practices are taken care by it at the first instance.

“You don't have to wait for a complaint. Public at large must know that the person saying he is an MD is actually holding that degree or not,” the court said.

“You also have to see that the degree of the doctor actually matches the practice he is doing. He may be having an MBBS degree but the practice might be different which cannot be allowed,” Justice Pushkarna added.

The PIL has been moved by a 6-year old boy, his mother, a Class IV employee of NDMC and two elderly persons, alleging failure of DMC in performing its regulatory duties as a result of which they have sustained injuries.

During the hearing today, the counsel appearing for the DMC submitted that the petition has not been filed with clean hands and that the petitioners had erroneously stated in the plea that no other pending litigation was filed by them against the statutory body.

However, the same was opposed by the petitioners' counsel who said that the details of all the pending pleas were mentioned in the PIL.

The court granted four weeks' time to the DMC, Delhi Government, Union of India and National Medical Commission to file their replies in the matter.

“Rejoinder before the next date of hearing. List on January 24,” the court said.

The plea alleges that there is an “unchecked rise of quackery” in Delhi and that the unscrupulous medical practitioners operate with a “dangerous disregard” for established medical protocols, putting the lives of unsuspecting patients at severe risk.

Relying on various news reports, the plea states that the failure of the DMC and NMC in performing their statutory obligations of weeding out fake or quack doctors has an adverse impact on the healthcare system.

The plea seeks setting up of a High Powered Committee consisting of retired judges and independent reputed members of the society to monitor the process of verification of doctors' qualifications to ensure that the process of re-verification is done is a fair, ethical and transparent manner.

It also seeks direction on the authorities to make it mandatory for all the licensed medical practitioners and clinical establishments to prominently display complete credentials of the medical practitioner at a conspicuous place of practise.

A direction is also sought on the authorities to efficaciously enforce the provisions of Sections 27 and 31 of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, and update the registration of all licensed medical practitioners in the Indian Medical Register or National Register, without any delay.

Title: Master Devarsh Minor, through his mother & ors. v. Govt. of NCT of Delhi & Ors.