Issuing medical certificate without checking patients personally is against the Indian Medical Council’s code of ethics. Three doctors, surprisingly enough, violated the code and also challenged Uttar Pradesh State Medical Council’s warning for not doing so.
The Indian Medical Council not only upheld the Uttar Pradesh State Medical Council’s ruling but also added that Regulation 7.7 of the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002, does not postulate any punishment by way of warning rather the only punishment which is stipulated under the Regulations is of removal of doctor from rolls of the Medical Council.
This may have disturbed the doctors even more. They challenged the aforementioned observation at Delhi High Court.
The hon’ble Court accepted doctors’ plea and observed the following:
“Indian Medical Council’s contention that only penalty which can be imposed on a doctor who gives a certificate which is untrue, misleading or improper is removal of name of the doctor from rolls of the register of Medical Council cannot be accepted. Regulation 7.7 only postulates that a doctor who gives an untrue, misleading or improper certificate can be removed from rolls of the register of Medical Council. However, it does not mean that that the only punishment that can be given to such a doctor is the removal of name from rolls of the register of Medical Council. Regulation 8.2 on the other hand deals with punishments that can be imposed on a doctor for his professional misconduct. Regulation 8.2 gives power to the Medical Council to impose any punishment as is deemed necessary which can also include the removal of name of the doctor from rolls of the register of Medical Council permanently or for a specified period”.
The doctors may have breathed sighs of relief, and probably would have learned to not issue certificate to patients without personally checking them.
Source : Order pronounced by Delhi High Court on 19th October, 2023.