New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday sought a
response from the Centre and the Medical Council of India on a PIL
seeking to initiate disciplinary proceedings against doctors
who refuse to give emergency treatment to patients during
their strikes and demonstrations.
Agreeing to hear the plea that emergency services should
not be disrupted in the hospital during demonstrations by
doctors, a bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia issued
notices to the government, the Council and AIIMS which have
witnessed many strikes in recent years.
The court passed the order on a petition filed by an NGO,
'People For Better Treatment', pleading that the court should
interfere in the matter as many lives were lost and patients
due to abrupt strikes by medical practitioners in government
hospitals in recent months.
Pleading that such practices are professional misconduct
and violative of the Code of Ethics Regulation of doctors, the
NGO submitted medical practitioners involved must be punished.
"Any doctor involved with the disruption of emergency
medical services should be held guilty for professional
misconduct and for violation of MCI rules and regulations,"
the petition said.
"Threats to shut down hospitals, including the emergency
department, are not limited only to hospitals in Delhi.
Doctors group across India have been frequently using the same
tactics in recent times to establish their claims with great
peril for helpless patients," the petition said.
The court, after hearing the NGO's plea contention,
agreed to hear the case and asked all the parties to file
their replies by the next date of hearing.
PTI
First Published: Monday, November 28, 2011, 18:14