MCI all set to amend Medical Ethics Regulations
13 Mar 2010
The Medical Council of India (MCI) says it will amend the professional conduct, etiquette and ethics regulations issued by it in December last year. The apex medical body has recommended some modifications in the regulations in a letter, which it has sent to the ministry of health and family welfare.
In the letter MCI has recommended various degrees of punishment for doctors who accept gifts worth Rs1,000 or more from any pharmaceutical or allied healthcare company.
The punishments range from censure for accepting gifts valued at between Rs1,000 and Rs5,000 to removal from the Indian or state medical register for over one year for accepting gifts worth Rs100,000.
MCI has done away with the blanket ban on gifts imposed last month when the regulations were first issued.
The recommendations also address other grey areas including sponsorship of travel and lodging of medical practitioners participating in conferences, the issue of monetary grants and the question of clinical research funding.
The monetary limits and the punitive clauses for infringing any of these regulations are similar to those defined for gifts.