Stop press: a landmark judgment

On September 4, 2001, the Bombay High Court held that accredited members of the press shall be permitted to attend inquiry proceedings conducted by the Maharashtra Medical Council to probe misconduct of medical practitioners. ” … MMC cannot hold the view that inquiry proceedings held under Section 22 of the MMC Act of 1965 are confidential in nature and have to be held in camera.” (1)

The judgement was in response to a case filed in the early 1990s, by Ms. Saroj Iyer, journalist; the Medico Friend Circle Bombay Group; The Forum for Medical Ethics Society and Lok Hith. The case was filed in relation to a complaint by Mr. PC Singhi to the MMC, against Dr. Prafull Desai, surgeon at the Bombay Hospital. The MMC judged Dr. Prafull Desai guilty of two misconducts, but was punished only with a warning. Ms Saroj Iyer, who was also active in the MFC, was not allowed to witness the proceedings. This judgement will be an important precedent for the presence of witnesses in Medical Council Inquiries. If a journalist is allowed, it should not be difficult for doctors and laypersons to claim the right to witness an inquiry. Are there any takers for such legal action?

Three precendent-setting high court judgments have emerged from MFC’s (Bombay Group) campaign on medical malpractice: on registration and standards in private nursing homes (following from the case involving Ms. Yasmin Tawaria), the patient’s right to a copy of medical records (Mr. Raghunath Raheja), and, now, allowing journalists to witness an MMC inquiry against doctors (Mr. PC Singhi).

Mr. Singhi’s long fight in the civil and criminal courts is still on, and he has won several battles here. Some of these rulings are also precedent setting, and can be used by others. Some have been described in the book documenting MFC’s work in Mumbai:Market, medicine, malpractice.