Important Note:

  • All the services under the HelpDesk are available free-of-cost to all doctors across the country
  • These services are limited to situations wherein the doctor is charged and / or threatened with criminal action and / or is facing police action for medical negligence, that is, in cases where the Jacob Mathews judgement is applicable

  • In case, police is threatening, harassing, filing, or has already filed a case of medical negligence, the doctor can connect with the following official representatives of medical societies and associations. They will then immediately connect with the panel lawyers who will guide the doctor and if required, speak with police also
  • Two humble requests - Please remember that these doctors have volunteered and have their own professional and personal commitments. Hence, avoid calling them at odd hours unless it is absolutely necessary, an emergency, and call only when a police action is threatened or taken in a case of medical negligence
  • In case there is no emergency, as in cases of pending police cases, please send an email to helpdesk@imlindia.com rather than calling the following numbers and we will get back to you at the earliest.

Official Representatives Association National / State / City chapter Mobile No.
Dr. Rajesh Mishra Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine - ISCCM National 9825013983
Dr. Amit Saraf Association of Physicians of India - API National 8369489680
Dr. Barun Nayak All India Ophthalmological Society - AIOS National 9987315599
Dr. Namrata Sharma All India Ophthalmological Society - AIOS National 9810856988
Dr. Dwarakanath Srinivas Neurological Society of India - NSI National 9341268629
Dr. Dharmanand Indian Rheumatology Association - IRA National 9845981399
Dr. T. Nirmal Fredrick Tamil Nadu Ophthalmic Association - TNOA Tamil Nadu State 9840746062
Dr. C. S. Manjunath Karnataka Chapter of Indian Society for Assisted Reproduction - KISAR Karnataka State 9901052350
Dr. S. Arulrhaj Association of Physicians of India - API Tuticorin Tuticorin 9994580001
Dr. D. Selvaraj Association of Physicians of India - API Tuticorin Tuticorin 9443367776
Dr. T. Nirmal Fredrick Indian Medical Association - IMA Tambaram Tambaram 9840746062
Dr. Rajesh Babu Indian Medical Association - IMA Coimbatore Coimbatore 9360030094
Dr. Kesava Krishna B. Indian Medical Associaion - IMA Machilipatnam Machilipatnam 9849360560
Dr. ThamilSelvi Indian Medical Association - IMA Tiruchirapalli Tiruchirapalli 9786021686

HiDoc.Dr, a digital platform for doctors, has provided a toll-free number for this service - 1800-202-5091. You can also drop your message at https://legalhelpdesk.hidoc.co/ or email to legalhelpdesk@hidoc.co

  • IML has trained doctors and shared with them the requisite resources to conduct webinars / CMLE / workshops on the topic ‘Doctors Rights in Police cases”. Medical societies, hospitals, medical colleges, doctors’ groups, and others wishing to get the requisite information and knowledge on the subject can contact them directly
  • One humble requests - Please offer the requisite courtesies to the speakers

Name Email ID City State Specialty
Dr. Balamurugan Karuppan vejovis.clinic@gmail.com Chennai Tamil Nadu General Medicine and Diabetology
Dr. Desani Chauham Amardas chauhamdesani3@gmail.com Rajkot Gujarat Forensic Medicine
Dr. Arun Kumar Sharma arun.udhv@gmail.com Mohali Punjab Intensivist
Dr. Mohan Nagorao Pawar pawarmnp@gmail.com Ahmednagar Maharashtra Forensic Medicine and Toxicology
Dr. Mohd. Asrarul Haque asrar2km@gmail.com Aligarh Uttar Pradesh Forensic Medicine
Dr. Nikhil N nikhilnswamy@gmail.com Bengaluru Karnataka Anaesthesiology, Critical Care Medicine
Dr. Harish Agarwal drharishagarwal@gmail.com Jodhpur Rajasthan Internal Medicine, Physician
Dr. Akhilesh Agrawal akkhi2008@gmail.com Jaipur Rajasthan Intensivist
Dr. M Waseem Ahmed drwaseem@smfhospital.org Chennai Tamil Nadu Emergency Medicine
Dr. Vijay Prakash Tyagi vijayptyagi@gmail.com Dehradun Uttarakhand Anesthesiologist
Dr. I J Ratnani drijratnani@gmail.com Bhavnagar Gujarat Psychiatry
Dr. Chinmay Shah cjshah79@yahoo.co.in Bhavnagar Gujarat Physiology
Dr. N. P. Kuhadia dr.kuhadia@gmail.com Bhavnagar Gujarat General Practitioner

An email can also be sent to helpdesk@imlindia.com and we will try to organize a speaker for you at the earliest.

The Supreme Court in the case of Jacob Mathews v/s State of Punjab has provided 3 valuable protections to doctors in cases of criminal medical negligence. These are:

  • Right 1. Private Complaint in Court​

    The patient should be asked by the court to first produce opinion of another doctor​ (Not mandatory)​

  • Right 2. Police Complaint

    Police must obtain credible opinion of another doctor in government service of the same specialty / qualifications before proceeding further (mandatory) ​

  • Right 3. Arresting Doctors for Medical Negligence

    Police cannot arrest doctors for medical negligence in a routine manner​

Paragraph 53 of the judgment:

“So long as it is not done, we propose to lay down certain guidelines for the future which should govern the prosecution of doctors for offences of which criminal rashness or criminal negligence is an ingredient. A private complaint may not be entertained unless the complainant has produced prima facie evidence before the Court in the form of a credible opinion given by another competent doctor to support the charge of rashness or negligence on the part of the accused doctor. The investigating officer should, before proceeding against the doctor accused of rash or negligent act or omission, obtain an independent and competent medical opinion preferably from a doctor in government service qualified in that branch of medical practice who can normally be expected to give an impartial and unbiased opinion applying Bolam’s test to the facts collected in the investigation. A doctor accused of rashness or negligence, may not be arrested in a routine manner (simply because a charge has been levelled against him). Unless his arrest is necessary for furthering the investigation or for collecting evidence or unless the investigation officer feels satisfied that the doctor proceeded against would not make himself available to face the prosecution unless arrested, the arrest may be withheld”.

The copy of the judgment in Jacob Mathew v/s State of Punjab which provides 3 salutary legal protections to doctors in case of criminal medical negligence is available for download with the relevant portions clearly highlighted for easy referencing.

A print-out of this judgment should always be kept in the clinic / nursing home / hospital and also at their residence by every doctor and there should be no hesitation in producing it before the police.

Doctors across the country lack awareness and knowledge about laws which at times leads to unpleasant consequences. They need to be educated and made aware not only about their legal duties and responsibilities but also about their legal rights and privileges. The requisite legal help should also be available to them and that too easily.

One aspect that needs immediate attention is criminal proceedings against doctors in cases of medical negligence. Since 2005, the Hon’ble Supreme Court has provided unique protections to all doctors in criminal cases but unfortunately many doctors are unaware of the same. The mere thought of a police action is enough to make every law-abiding citizen nervous. Doctors are no exceptions although they are legally well-protected. The tragic suicide of one such doctor in Rajasthan recently has highlighted the immediate need for creating legal awareness and providing legal help.

To address this issue of concern, Institute of Medicine & Law is operating this HelpDesk for doctors in close partnership with medical associations. It is making all efforts to educate doctors and provide them with the requisite legal help in situations where the doctor is charged or threatened with criminal proceedings or is facing police action for medical negligence.

This service will operate in three distinct areas namely:

  1. Legal Aid & Advice
  2. Webinars For Medical Societies / Hospitals / Medical Colleges / Doctors’ Groups
  3. Doctor-Volunteers (Train-The-Trainer)

Lawyers from the Supreme Court will advise and counsel doctors and may also speak with the police on telephone, if required. All efforts will be made to reach out to the aggrieved doctor at the earliest. The turnaround time will not be more than a few hour.

Another feature of this service will be to help aggrieved doctors in filing a ‘Contempt Petition’ before the Supreme Court in cases where the police action is contrary to or inconsistent with the directions given in Jacob Mathews case.

Working

  • Any doctor who wishes to avail of this service can connect on the mobile numbers of the official nominees appointed by his/her associations if they have partnered in this initiative. Others can send an email to helpdesk@imlindia.com and we will get back to the doctor at the earliest
  • Names, email ids and mobile numbers of the official nominees are also available on the websites of the partner associations

IML is training volunteers from amongst the doctors who wish to contribute to this cause. IML is providing the content and reference material, and also conducting training sessions for these volunteers on this subject. These trained volunteers will in turn conduct more training sessions and share this legal knowledge and information amongst peers in their association and/or locality. IML is not charging these volunteers for the training, and they will also not charge anything for educating and spreading legal awareness in their fraternity.

Working

  • IML will organize the training sessions. Content, judgments, slide deck, and the commonly asked questions will be shared with the volunteers. In case, they are unable to answer any question in any training session, they could ask for help from IML. Every effort will be made to keep the trainers updated with the changes in law, new judgments, new queries raised by doctors and / or dilemmas faced by them
  • All those doctors who wish to volunteer should send an email to helpdesk@imlindia.com and we will get back to you

Any medical society, hospital, medical college, doctors’ groups, and others who wish to conduct a webinar for their own group of doctors on this subject will be provided with a speaker by IML.

Working