Doctors welcome National Medical Commission move on hair transplant, aesthetic procedures guidelines

By Shalini Bhardwaj
New Delhi [India], September 28: The doctors have welcomed the National Medical Commission's (NMC) move for issuing guidelines for Aesthetic procedures and warning that watching videos on YouTube or other platforms is not adequate to perform aesthetic procedures like Hari transplant.
"This is a great and a welcome move by NMC, as we were tired of dealing with it because we have lost many lives due to hair transplantation. I think NMC must start certain guidelines and certain courses, where people particularly patients can be aware that this doctor is certified in India to do aesthetic procedures because a lot of non-dermatologist doctors only businessmen people looking at money are entering this field only to make money but unfortunately killing people," said Dr Deepali Bhardwaj, Dermatologist.
"Unfortunately, making patients believe that Botox and filler don't work or can make people blind. I have met several patients in my practice in north India, where I see them not believing in Botox because it was injected earlier by a non-trained doctor," she explained on the misconceptions being circulated about Botox.
According to Dr Ajaya Kashyap, Senior Cosmetic and plastic surgeon hair transplants without the supervision and involvement of an experienced physician can be dangerous, "Every medical procedure requires extensive training and surgical procedures even more so technicians can learn the technique but hair transplants done without the supervision and involvement of an experienced physician are dangerous and can have devastating consequences."
Earlier on Tuesday, the National Medical Commission (NMC) issued guidelines on aesthetic procedures and warned that watching videos on YouTube or other platforms is not adequate for training to perform aesthetic procedures like hair transplants.
"It may be noted that watching in workshops or on YouTube or similar platforms is not adequate training to start aesthetic surgery or including hair transplant," said Yogendra Malik, Member, Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB), NMC.
"Surgical assistant/technicians should perform tasks only under the supervision of an RMP," said the NMC official.
NMC has also mentioned that aesthetic procedures, including hair transplants, are not emergency surgery hence there is no case of allowing any untrained person to do it.
"Aesthetic procedures including hair transplants are not an emergency surgery and hence there is no case for allowing any untrained person to do it under the pretext of "exceptional circumstances," said the Commission.
The Commission said hair transplantation being an aesthetic surgery needs to be performed by RMPs like qualified dermatologists or trained surgeons. Assistants or OT technicians should be from a medical background such as nurses, lab technicians and pharmacists. However, they need to be provided structured systematic and proper training (responsibility will lie with the RMP) in all aspects of both aesthetic surgery and disinfection sterilization patient communication etc, the Commission said.
The minimum requirements in a hospital/clinic performing hair transplant surgery include the daycare theatre which should be equipped with facilities for monitoring and handling emergencies including stocking emergency drugs, Boyles machine, intubation sets and ambu bag.
"A plan for handling emergencies should be in place and all nursing staff should be familiar with the emergency plan. It is ideal to have a standby anaesthetist," NMC said.