National Medical Commission still to act on junketeering doctors

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National Medical Commission (NMC) is yet to act against 30 doctors found guilty of accepting a foreign trip funded by pharma company AbbVie as the matter is still “under consideration”. An audit committee of the department of pharmaceuticals had in Dec last year found them guilty, and their names were sent in July to the commission for action.New chairperson of NMC, Dr Abhijat Sheth, confirmed to TOI that matters pending before the Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB) could not be taken up. Four out of five posts in the board, including that of its president, are vacant.Speaking to TOI, Sheth said NMC was considering constituting a temporary board of NMC members to take up matters pending before EMRB. “Since this (the charge against 30 doctors) is a serious matter, it will be taken up as soon as possible,” he said. “Govt has reassured us that the vacant posts will be filled up soon. Until then, there is little we can do. We are aware that a lot of matters are pending,” said Sheth, who added he was out of the country and would be back by Oct 12.Of the four autonomous boards in NMC, EMRB, which deals with regulation of the medical profession, has only one part-time member, Dr Surinder Pal Singh, from Punjab Medical Council, who was appointed in July. Many of the posts have been vacant for more than one year though the NMC Act stipulates that three months before the end of a member’s tenure, the matter must be referred to a search committee for filling up the vacancy. NMC had issued a circular inviting applicants for the vacant posts in 2023 and again in Aug 2024.The list of 30 doctors has not been made public by the department of pharmaceuticals though its audit committee and later apex committee had found them guilty of accepting foreign vacations to Monaco and Paris funded by AbbVie. Despite the apex committee stating in Dec 2024 that NMC should be requested to take action against the guilty doctors, the department had failed to forward the names of the doctors to NMC till July.