Cases of medical practitioners at prestigious hospitals in the city not fulfilling Delhi Medical Council's guidelines have come to light

Not what the doctor ordered

Cases of medical practitioners at prestigious hospitals in the city not fulfilling Delhi Medical Council's guidelines have come to light

While quacks abound in the Capital with the number of qualified medical practitioners woefully short of the mark, it has now come to light that consulting physicians working at reputed hospitals may not be a safe bet either.

The Delhi Medical Council (DMC) has issued a letter to all government and private hospitals stating: "A physician shall not claim to be a specialist unless he has a special qualification in that branch" and also "only those persons who possess recognised post graduate medical qualification and are registered with the DMC are appointed as specialists".

"We have sent the letter to all private as well as government hospitals to verify the degrees of doctors to avoid any case of quackeries," said Dr Girish Tyagi, secretary, DMC.

Despite this, there are many doctors working in government hospitals who don't fulfil the DMC guidelines.
One such case is that of Dr Shipra Rampal, currently working in the Radiology department at Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital, Jahangirpuri. She completed her post graduation from Government Medical College, Jhansi, which is not an institute recognised by the Medical Council of India.

"Her case came to light a year ago and is still pending. The court has given her orders to continue working," said Dr Veer Singh, medical superintendent, Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital.
Similarly there are cases of doctors working at Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital, Sushruta Trauma Centre, Dr Ambedkar Hospital and Hedgewar Hospital.

"While recruiting them as specialists, Delhi government did not get their degrees verified. This is a case of forgery as well as quackery," said a senior doctor from the Directorate of Health Services on the condition of anonymity.

Even now officials seem to be unaware of the situation, but say they are ready to take necessary action if something comes up.

"We have not received any notification about such cases. But if something happens, the appointing committee will be questioned about this," said Diwan Chand, additional secretary, department of health.
When asked about the action in such cases, Dr Girish Tyagi, secretary, Delhi Medical Council, said: "It depends on the cases. We will look into the matter and will ask the appointing committee to re- verify the degrees of such doctors."