The state body of the Indian Medical Association recently issued a letter which discourages doctors from criticising the state government on chat groups and other kinds of social media. The letter states that IMA committee members had been informed by the Maharashtra Cyber Cell that doctors were posting comments against the state government and were asked to take precautions against it.

The letter, that was issued on April 20, stated that doctors shouldn't post any 'derogatory comments on government decisions' and added that no offensive language should be used. In reaction to the letter, many tweeted stating that the direction was curtailing the freedom of speech of doctors. One user tweeted "Why is cyber cell concerned with people posting criticism of Maharashtra government in WhatsApp groups? And why are they snooping on doctors and IMA?' while others objected against the idea of censorship.