look news india
The government is now going to crack down hard on hospitals, clinics and doctors making misleading claims like ‘100% guaranteed treatment’, ‘disease eradicated from the root’ and ‘city’s number-1 doctor’ on newspapers, TV channels, social media and hoardings at intersections across the country. The Central Government and the National Medical Commission (NMC) have drafted new guidelines to impose a complete ban and impose heavy fines on such fake promotions that play with the lives and hard-earned money of patients. Often, patients suffering from serious diseases like cancer, diabetes, baldness, kidney disease or joint pain get misled by these advertisements and leave their essential medicines and put their health at further risk by going to quacks. Under these strict rules, which are being prepared in joint coordination with the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) and the Health Ministry, it is now being declared illegal for any doctor or hospital to claim itself as superior or to give written guarantee of complete cure of the disease.
The basic principle of medical science believes that every person’s body, his immune system and reaction to medicine are different. In such a situation, no certified doctor in the world can guarantee 100% cure of any disease. Despite this, many private clinics, IVF centres, hair transplant centers and alternative medicine institutes extort lakhs of rupees from patients in the name of ‘guaranteed results’. According to the new rules, now no doctor will be able to use words like ‘number-1 specialist’, ‘best doctor in the city’ or ‘most successful surgeon’ on his prescription, board, website or social media handle. Doctors will be allowed to make public only factual information like their degree, registration number with a recognized medical council, clinic timings and consultation fees.
The proposed provisions under the Consumer Protection Act and Medical Ethics Code outline strict punitive action against misleading advertisements. A cash fine of up to ₹10 lakh will be imposed on a hospital or doctor violating the rule for the first time. If an institution is found making similar false claims again, the fine may increase to ₹50 lakh. Additionally, state branches of the National Medical Commission (NMC) are being empowered to suspend the medical practice license of doctors who repeatedly make misleading propaganda for a period ranging from 3 months to 1 year. In serious cases, it has also been recommended to seal the clinic and register a criminal case.
In the digital age, social media influencers who promote medical products, magical ashes and miraculous oils on Instagram, YouTube and Facebook are also going to be punished. The new rules make it clear that if an influencer or celebrity promotes any medical therapy, skin treatment or diet supplement, he or she will have to back up the product with scientific evidence and clinical trials. Digital creators promoting any treatment as ‘magical’ or ‘infallible’ without any certified lab report will also be directly imposed heavy fine by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs. There will also be a complete ban on ‘Fake Patient Reviews’ issued by hospitals.
In big states like Uttar Pradesh, Delhi-NCR, Bihar and Rajasthan, innocent villagers who come from small towns to big cities for treatment often become the first victims of these misleading advertisements. From the misleading hoardings put up around Lucknow’s Charbagh, Kaiserbagh and Medical College to the ‘conditional treatment’ pamphlets pasted at the bus stands of Delhi, Kanpur and Patna, the vigilance team of the local Municipal Corporation and the Health Department will now take direct action. Senior doctors of prestigious institutions like Lucknow’s KGMU, PGI and Delhi AIIMS have welcomed this step, saying that this will further strengthen the trust of patients in modern and scientific medical practice and they will be able to save themselves from losing their lives by falling into the wrong hands.