Last December, the Medical Council of India (MCI) flexed its muscles and targeted doctors for their corrupt practices. In what came to be referred to as a ?code of ethical conduct for doctors?, the MCI released amendments to the Indian Medical Council Regulations, 2002. The guidelines, followed by a few clarifications in March, restrain doctors from accepting gifts, travel facilities and hospitality from pharma companies in lieu of promoting their products.
The irony is that the MCI president Ketan Desai now appears to be at the centre of a CBI investigation, as one of his associates was caught for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 2 crore, which was to be delivered to Desai to recognise a medical college in Punjab.
Many in the industry were not surprised, as Desai is not new to controversy. In December 2000, the income tax department raided his house and gathered enough evidence to make a case of disproportionate assets. A year later, the Delhi High Court asked him to step down and pulled up the Central government for not taking steps to correct alleged irregularities in the functioning of the MCI. The medical community welcomed his dismissal. But he is still the MCI president a decade later.
Industry observers worry that genuine efforts to update doctors would also be stopped, as some MNCs have already instructed Indian subsidiaries to discontinue such programmes as they don?t want to fall foul of the authorities. Doctors admit a few bad sheep may need to be weeded out, but a majority of them are interested in the knowledge, not the freebies. The crux is that it is difficult to define at what point a gift becomes a bribe. Many pharma companies gift subscriptions of medical journals to leading consultants; when this amount sometimes runs into lakhs for multiple foreign journals, is this a reasonable CME programme or an inducement?
The effectiveness of any regulation lies in its interpretation and implementation and as we all know, the devil is in the details. At the end of the day, it is left to each doctor?s personal code of conduct. Just as it is once again Desai?s reputation on the line, even though he was not present when his associate allegedly accepted the bribe on his account.
viveka.r@expressindia.com