Non-Med Practitioners Can’t File Appeals, NMC’s Ethics Board Ruled
NEW DELHI: In response to a Right to Information application, National Medical Commission (NMC) has revealed it has taken up 185 appeals by doctors against state medical councils’ decisions from its inception in Sept 2020 till Jan 2026, while it has returned 256 appeals filed by patients in the same period. Recently, health ministry had asked the commission to consider hearing appeals filed by patients and/or their relatives against state council rulings on alleged negligence by doctors.Responding to a complaint by an RTI activist and ophthalmologist Dr KV Babu, who has been following up the issue of patients’ appeals being rejected, policy division of health ministry asked NMC to “take necessary action in accordance with the law”. In his complaint, Dr Babu urged the ministry to take action against NMC members who took “an illegal decision” in 2021 to return appeals filed by patients claiming that NMC Act did not allow them to appeal.In Oct 2021, NMC’s Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB) had decided that in keeping with NMC Act, 2019, “only medical practitioners or professionals should be allowed as (sic) appeals before EMRB”. Section 30(3) of NMC Act states that medical professionals aggrieved by state council decisions can appeal. Though nothing in the section expressly bars patients from filing appeals, EMRB inserted the word “only” medical practitioners into its reading of the section in its Oct 2021 meeting.”Ever since NMC was formed, they have been rejecting, on average, one patient appeal every week, 256 rejections in more than five years. There is no explicit provision in NMC Act which bars the hearing of appeals from the public. If anything, the act clearly mandates that NMC is to adopt earlier statutory provisions of MCI. Rejecting patient appeals has been illegal right from the start. Moreover, in 2024, in the 16th meeting of NMC it was agreed that all appeals received by EMRB will be entertained. However, EMRB has continued to reject appeals coming to it,” said Dr Babu.The draft amendment of NMC Act put in public domain by health ministry in Dec 2022 contains a provision that explicitly provides for the public to file appeals before NMC’s EMRB against decisions of state councils in complaints related to medical negligence or professional misconduct. A file noting acquired using RTI showed that the amendment was approved in 2023. However, the file hasn’t moved since then.
