MCI calls for action against labs offering cuts to docs for referrals

New Delhi, June 6, The Tribune

The Medical Council of India, the apex regulator, has decided to crack the whip on diagnostic centres offering commissions to doctors for referring patients to them and also for prescribing needless investigation.In two separate letters issued to state medical councils, the MCI secretary has asked the regulatory bodies to take stringent and immediate action on complaints of commissions for diagnostic referrals. The MCI has asked the state councils to take suo moto action wherever they feel necessary and conduct time-bound inquiries. Confirming the receipt of letters from the MCI, Punjab Medical Council president Dr GR Grewal said he had summoned  three top diagnostic experts and physicians  (one of them from Ludhiana) over unethical practices. The letters say, “The Medical Council of India has received complaints about diagnostic centres giving commission to doctors for referring patients to diagnostic centres and also prescribing investigations unnecessarily”. The letters state that the councils should investigate all complaints of unethical practices adopted by registered medical practioners under the Indian Medical Council Regulations, 2002. The state bodies have also been told to send an advisory to medical practitioners to refrain from unethical practices. “Whenever a complaint is received against a medical practitioner for accepting commissions, unnecessary investigation, illegal abortions, nexus with drug companies etc, the council should take immediate action, and even suo moto. The action taken against the violators should be notified in local newspapers and also intimated to the Medical Council of India,” the letters state.