Delhi HC issues notice on plea seeking verification of qualifications, certificates of all medical practitioners

New Delhi [India], December 8 : The Delhi High Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre, Delhi Government and Delhi Medical Council on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking direction to conduct a time-bound verification of medical qualifications and educational certificates of all medical practitioners practicing across the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi.
The bench of Justice Manmohan and Justice Mini Pushkarna while taking cognizance of the plea asked the Medical Council, "You must ensure your presence is felt at ground level. Some process of verification must be initiated. The public must know whether the individual is holding the degree or not."
The plea alleged that there is an unchecked rise of quackery in Delhi. Quacks, often lacking legitimate medical qualifications, have seized the opportunity presented by the lax oversight and compromised the integrity of the State Medical Council.
The plea also alleged that these unscrupulous practitioners operate with a dangerous disregard for established medical protocols, putting the lives of unsuspecting patients at severe risk.
The plea stated that there should be urgent intervention of the Court given the recent news reports published in print as well as electronic media highlighting the fake doctors' scam at a nursing home in Delhi, NCR, and how the regulatory body had been letting them off on repeated occasions, which eventually led to the death of the various victims.
Recently two doctors, a woman posing as a surgeon, a laboratory technician, and several patients died in a sensational episode that has come to light in Delhi's Greater Kailash area.
Four people were arrested in connection with the deaths of two patients who underwent surgeries at a clinic in the south Delhi locality.
The plea stated that technicians at the hospital were performing surgeries posing as doctors or surgeons, as a result of which several victims lost their lives.
Dr Neeraj Agarwal who is stated to be the proprietor of Agarwal Medical Centre is only an MBBS who was posing as a fake specialist to conduct major surgeries at the Hospital. The plea further submitted that being an MBBS, he was also not qualified to perform surgeries.
Despite the same, he is stated to have been carrying out 3000 surgeries in a calendar year. Much before police uncovered the fake clinic racket in the posh colony of South Delhi, reportedly, at least 13 complaints had been lodged with the Delhi Medical Council (DMC) against the illegal practitioners of Aggarwal Medical Centre since the year 2011, the plea said.
Despite the various complaints filed against Dr Neeraj Agarwal and his accomplices, unfortunately, the DMC failed to act diligently and take strict action against them.
As per the records of the National Medical Commission (NMC) and as per the police investigation, Dr Neeraj Agarwal is only an MBBS, while contrary to this, Neeraj Agarwal was granted registration of an MD by the DMC, the plea stated.
If the DMC had taken timely action against Dr Neeraj Aggarwal and his accomplices, it could have saved the lives of the many victims. Unfortunately, the Council consistently allowed them to escape with minimal or no punitive measures, the plea stated.
The petition has been moved by five petitioners, out of them one is a 6-year-old disabled child who sustained a brain injury at the hands of doctors of a private hospital in Delhi where he received treatment in the Neonatal ICU soon after his birth. The damage has caused him cerebral palsy and epilepsy. He eventually acquired a rare medical condition called "West Syndrome" and has been rendered vegetative for life. The other four petitioners are also victims of medical malpractice, and some have lost their loved ones due to the medical malpractice.
The plea has been moved through Advocates Sachin Jain, Ajay Kumar Aggarwal and Sukrit Seth further seeking court direction to set up a High Powered Committee which may consist of Retired Judges and independent reputed members of society to monitor the process of verification, to ensure that the process of re-verification of doctors is done in a fair, ethical and transparent manner.
"Issue direction for an investigation into the functioning of Delhi Medical Council by some independent agencies like CBI, with regard to its alarming malpractice of granting fake registrations and shielding unqualified doctors," the plea stated.