Patna: A local court in India’s Bihar state has asked the Bihar Medical Council of Registration (BMCR) to act against a group of 20 doctors who prescribed unnecessary medicines, after allegedly taking bribes from pharmaceutical firms in the form of cash, housing apartments and free foreign tours.
A division bench of the Patna High Court, comprising acting chief justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh, passed the order on Wednesday evening after hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by one Sumant Shamant Rai.
The court asked the council to conclude the ongoing proceedings against the doctors within three months and initiate punitive action.
The doctors in question — most of them prominent ones with successful private practices — are accused of taking large sums of money and apartments or going on foreign tours sponsored by the pharmaceutical companies in exchange for prescribing unnecessary medicines of particular brands.
Of the accused, one is charged with taking Rs2.7 million (Dh145,075) in addition to a housing apartment from the medicine companies.
Likewise, six other doctors took cash between Rs100,000 to Rs200,000. Another six doctors took cash and also enjoyed foreign trips sponsored by the medicine firms.
Others have been charged with accepting less than Rs100,000 cash to help the medicine firms by prescribing medicines not necessarily required to patients, reports said.
Of the total 20, the majority reside in Patna where they are said to have successful private practices.
The rest hail from Begusarai, Munger, Hajipur and Purnia district.
Citing reports in the media, the petitioner claimed that findings of the Medical Council of India (MCI) also revealed such unethical practices by the doctors. The MCI is learnt to have submitted that the matter pertaining to allegations against 300 registered medical practitioners were forwarded to the respective medical council under which jurisdiction the doctors practice medicine.
An official with the BMCR said they were looking into the bribery allegations against the doctors.
“The matter has reached the ethics committee and they are investigating,” BMCR registrar Dr Sahjanand said, refusing to share more details.
This is not the first that the doctors have been found involved in unethical practices. In June this year, the Central Investigation Bureau in Nepal arrested 15 doctors on the charge of pursuing MBBS course using forged Intermediate examination certificate procured from Bihar.
