Unregistered medical practitioners not quacks

Practitioners without a medical qualification are often called quacks. As these words are of belittling in nature, the honourable High Court of Tamil Nadu has given a ruling in 1998 that medical practitioners without Medical Council registration shall be addressed as Unregistered Medical Practitioners (UMPs). IMA can’t object to Telangana govt move to impart training to UMPs

Refer to the news item ‘IMA blames State for encouraging quackeries’ (October 17). Shyam Sundar, Telangana State President of Indian Medical Association (IMA), finds fault with the government for imparting training to the Unregistered Medical Practitioners (UMPs) in the State.The IMA behaves as if it is the sole agency to dictate the medical practice in the country.

It is a society of Registered Medical Practitioners (RMP) of Allopathy. It cites the data that there is one RMP for every 1,000 people. But, there are so many gaps in geographical spread and availability of RMPs. In this situation, UMPs are the first point of care providers in villages and urban surroundings. Healthcare is a need of urgency to be met on demand and on spot.

Government's intention, in the interests of people' health, is to utilise the services of these local care providers in a scientific way by providing training. IMA criticises that the government fails to utilise the Primary Health Centres (PHC) properly. There is one PHC for 25,000 to 50,000 population. In many places, the medical officer of a PHC is the only qualified medical practitioner available in the entire area. Does a PHC with a single medical officer physically meet the demands of around a 20 villages and hamlets?

At the same time, I wish to record my strong objection that the IMA willfully uses inappropriate terminology pertaining to the profession. The word ‘Doctor’ is not an occupational title. The persons, who are awarded doctorate degree by a university, prefix the title Doctor (Dr) to their names. In earlier days, it was obligatory for jurists, physicians and philosophers to obtain a doctorate degree. Universities used to award Medicinae Doctor (MD) degree to a prospective medical practitioner.

Although basic qualifications changed over the time, physicians or medical practitioners continued with the customary calling as doctor. ‘Doctor’ word does not appear in statutes related to medical practice. As per the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Act 1956, the Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) is the basic qualification to become a Registered Medical Practitioner (RMP). MBBS is an undergraduate degree; not a doctorate.

‘Registered Medical Practitioner’ means a person who has got registration in a State Medical Council after studying requisite medical course in a college recognised by the state government and approved by Medical Council of India and undergoing the internship in a teaching hospital. RMP is legally permitted to practise medicine. But, in real practice, no MBBS graduate suffixes RMP.

At the same time, the lot without a medical qualification suffixes RMP giving a full form ‘Rural Medical Practitioner.’ It is a violation of law. ‘Private Medical Practitioner’ (PMP) means an RMP engaged in private practice. Union government has enacted Clinical Establishments (Regulation) Act 2010 for uniform regulation of PMPs across the country.

Practitioners without a medical qualification are often called quacks. As these words are of belittling in nature, the honourable High Court of Tamil Nadu has given a ruling in 1998 that practitioners without council registration shall be addressed as Unregistered Medical Practitioners (UMP) (MHC, 1598 0f 2001).

As an educated community, the IMA is bound to respect the ruling of honourable judicial court. IMA is a professional body of RMPs. Medical Council of India (MCI) is a statutory body constituted under IMC Act 1933. MCI oversees the medical education and practice in the country.

By Dr Rapolu Satyanarayana