Satyamev Jayate impact Maharashtra Medical Council suspends licences of 13 doctors

Aamir Khan has been getting a lot of success with his attempt at social justice, Satyamev Jayate. It all started with the very first episode of Satyamev Jayate about female infanticide. After the effects were seen in certain states like Rajasthan, Haryana and MP, its now Maharashtras turn. The Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) suspended 13 doctors against whom action had been initiated under the Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act. The suspended doctors are gynaecologists and radiologists from Beed, Osmanabad, Jalgaon and Pune. This comes after the last round of suspensions of five docs a few months ago. These are temporary suspensions till the charges against them are proved in court. If found guilty, their membership will be terminated, said Dr Shivkumar Utture, an executive member of the MMC. Its alarming that the MMC itself does not have details of all the doctors who practise in the state. They are seeking more information on two doctors from Mumbai in this regard. One of these doctors is a homoeopath and the other is not registered with the MMC. We have asked the government for more information on them, Dr Utture said.

Satyamev Jayate impact Maharashtra Medical Council suspends licences of 13 doctors

Aamir Khan has been getting a lot of success with his attempt at social justice, Satyamev Jayate. It all started with the very first episode of Satyamev Jayate about female infanticide. After the effects were seen in certain states like Rajasthan, Haryana and MP, its now Maharashtras turn. The Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) suspended 13 doctors against whom action had been initiated under the Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act. The suspended doctors are gynaecologists and radiologists from Beed, Osmanabad, Jalgaon and Pune. This comes after the last round of suspensions of five docs a few months ago. These are temporary suspensions till the charges against them are proved in court. If found guilty, their membership will be terminated, said Dr Shivkumar Utture, an executive member of the MMC. Its alarming that the MMC itself does not have details of all the doctors who practise in the state. They are seeking more information on two doctors from Mumbai in this regard. One

of these doctors is a homoeopath and the other is not registered with the MMC. We have asked the government for more information on them, Dr Utture said.

Satyamev Jayate Impact: Five Rajasthan doctors booked

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) booked five senior Rajasthan government doctors for granting recognition to the nursing colleges which did not have standard facilities for the students, officials said. The doctors are professors at the medical colleges in the state and had inspected these nursing colleges as designated members of the Rajasthan Nursing Council for granting them recognition, they added. The authorities of five nursing colleges were also booked under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. According to ACBs Inspector General Umesh Mishra, the agency had raided about 75 colleges in March on complaints of irregularities. It was found that many of these nursing colleges were granted recognition from the Rajasthan Nursing Council despite the fact that they did not have proper facilities, said Mishra. The officer added that each-inspection team consists of two designated members of the Rajasthan Nursing Council including a professor at a government medical college and a teacher of a government nursing institution. First information reports have been registered against senior doctors including Jhalawar Medical Colleges professor Sushil Kochar, SMS Medical Colleges associate professors R.K. Gupta and Rambabu Sharma, JK Lon Hospitals professors Dr L.D. Agrawal and Rambabu Gupta, said Mishra. Authorities of four nursing colleges in Jaipur and one in Jodhpur have also been booked, said the officer. In the fourth episode of Satyamev Jayate, Aamir Khan highlighted issues dealing with medical malpractice. The show has brought to fore issues like child sex abuse and female foeticide, not your usual dinner table chatter and has actually forced various state governments get their act together. The Haryana government has announced that pregnant women will have to submit a photocopy of their identification proof at ultrasound centres as a pre-condition for undergoing the test and there are plans to embed observer chips in ultrasound machines. Aamir Khan also met Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot to discuss the female foeticide situation in the state and convinced him that infanticide cases should be fasttracked in special court. In MP, 65 MTP (medical termination of pregnancy) licences were suspended because they hadnt submitted the necessary documents. Recently the child sex abuse bill was also passed in Parliament to protect under 18s from sexual predators.

Parliamentary Panel Invites Aamir Khan to Rajya Sabha

Mumbai, June 19 (IBNS): Aamir Khans television venture 'Satyamev Jayate' attended new heights of success as the actor was invited by a parliamentary panel to the Rajya Sabha to discuss medical wrongdoings.

Khan and his 'Satyamev Jayate' team will appear before the panel on Thursday to discuss the issue. According to reports, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Rajya Sabha MP Shanta Kumar invited Khan to speak on the matter. Kumar heads the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce. Meanwhile, after the episodes on female foeticide and medical wrongdoings were aired, the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) has temporarily suspended the registration of 13 doctors in the state who were charged of revealing the sex of foetus. The council decided to suspend the doctors from various corners of Maharashtra including Beed, Jalagaon, Pune and Osmanabad by taking into consideration various provisions of the MMC Act and the Pre-Conception And Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act (PCPNDT). The MMC has also suspended Dr Sudam and Saraswati Munde from Beed town who have been charged for the death of a patient while performing an illegal abortion. The council in December had suspended five doctors. In another success story, the Maharashtra government has planned to open medical stores across the state that will have adequate amounts of generic medicines available for patients. The government saidmeasures will be taken to make generic medicines available in all government-run hospitals in Maharashtra. The episode that revealed the issue of medical malpractices was criticised by certain section of medical practitioners. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) had demanded an apology from Khan for what they termed as sending wrong message about the medical community in his programme. The episode about medical wrongdoing on Star TV network angered the doctors who said Khan sent all the wrong messages and undermined the doctor-patient relationship. "Satyamev Jayate is a good programme, but Aamir Khan in the last episode presented doctors in a totally wrong way. He should have invited the doctors against whom allegations were brought concerned or the representatives of the medical association for a balanced picture," Dr DR Rai, Honorary Secretary, Indian Medical Association told IBNS. Dr Rai said he was hurt that Aamir Khan sent such a wrong message to the country. "We only want an apology from him," he said. Dr Rai denied arguments that doctors get away scot-free in India after medical malpractices. "At least 14 doctors' licences were cancelled in recent times in Delhi alone," he claimed.

The theme of that particular episode showed that while people trust medical practitioners, believing that they are equipped with the knowledge and skills to safeguard their health, this knowledge is misused to exploit this trust and medical care becomes a nightmare. "The profession is riddled with unscrupulous doctors and hospitals out to make big bucks at the cost of patients, but there are still medical practitioners who stand up for the Hippocratic Oath, and those who want to clean up the profession," according to the summary of the show that Khan presented on May 27. The show has already gained attention of the viewers as it highlights different social issues.

Aamir's spokesperson confirmed to IANS that he will be there Thursday morning to interact with the panel. Aamir, 47, lifted the veil from malpractice in the medical profession through his maiden TV show "Satyamev Jayate" and discussed issues like doctors taking cuts and other unethical medical practices. He presented live examples of people who could have been cured with simple medicines but were advised by doctors to undergo surgeries, robbing them of precious money. Broadcast May 27, the well-researched episode also addressed issues like overpricing of lifesaving drugs. The expose brought brickbats and criticism from the Indian Medical Association (IMA), which wanted Aamir to apologise. But he said his conviction in the concept and aim of the show have left him fearless of negative reactions. "Satyamev Jayate", which marks the Bollywood's thinking actor's entry into the field of television, has so far discussed issues like female foeticide, child sex abuse and domestic violence. In fact, Parliament has only now passed a bill on stringent action against those guilty of child sex abuse. The actor has struck the right chord with the audiences as people are watching the show with great interest. Aamir says this is his way of contributing to society by creating awareness.

Karnataka government has teamed up with State Cooperative Consumer Federation to set up 20 Janatha Bazar generic drug stores across the state to make available affordable drugs to the poor patients in the state. Four pharma companies Cipla Torrent, Sun Pharma and Intas have consented to supply generic medicines at subsidized costs to these stores.

The first of this store was opened at the Victoria Hospital, the oldest government medical centre in the state. There are 19 more stores to be kicked-off operations by the year end and four of these will be in Bengaluru alone, said Karnataka medical education minister S A Ramdas.

he stores would not just offer 50 per cent discount on MRP for generics but also for branded drugs, life saving drugs, orthopaedics accessories and cardiac implants.

Maharashtra Government giving the green signal to a lot more generic medicine stores than the state now has. The Government announced that Generic medicines would be made available across all Government hospitals. In addition, the State Government has also planned to open medical stores across the state where generic medicines will be stocked in adequate amounts, and will be readily available for people.