Blatant violation

City’s skyline is painted with huge ads of corporate hospitals.

It is an unethical act. Hospitals are using loopholes in the Act and are advertising at will. Displaying photographs of doctors is not allowed, but if one travels just 50 km from the city, one can find billboards with doctors’ photographs and services offered.

Smartly worded slogans, impressive tag lines and catchy pictures of hospitals and their services on billboards are mushrooming across the city. This in itself is a blatant violation of professional ethics. The GHMC doesn’t bother because the huge hoardings bring the much-needed revenue to the civic body. We are not naming any hospital because all are equally guilty .

Ahead of much-publicised occasions like World Heart Day, Women’s Day, Diabetes Day and so on, huge billboards surface at prime locations -- Begumpet, Punjagutta, Khairatabad and Shamshabad, with corporate hospitals vying with one another to woo patients. There are also hospitals that advertise throughout the year.

On the face of this disturbing trend, it might appear that there is nothing wrong with the ads per se on the billboards. But, according to the Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics Regulations 2002 of the Indian Medical Council, a notification soliciting patients, directly or indirectly, by a physician, by a group of physicians or by institutions or organisations is unethical.

In the past three years more than two dozen hospitals have come up in the Greater Hyderabad region. They compete with one another and advertise to attract eyeballs.

Dr K Ramesh Reddy, elected from Andhra Pradesh to the Medical Council of India, who was also chairman the Ethics Committee, AP Medical Council, says, “It is an unethical act. Hospitals are using loopholes in the Act and are advertising at will. Displaying photographs of doctors is not allowed, but if one travels just 50 km away in any direction from the city, one can find billboards with doctors’ photographs and services offered.”

Hospitals are taking advantage of loopholes in the law. According to the Ethics Committee guidelines set out in Chapter 6, soliciting of patients directly or indirectly, by a physician, by a group of physicians or by institutions or organisations is unethical. A physician shall not make use of him/her (or his/her name) as subject of any form or manner of advertising or publicity.

L Ravichander, our legal expert, says, “You would find hospitals advertising in the name of nursing homes. Many such nursing homes are owned by doctors or a group of doctors. It amounts to the same. It is a violation. Law requires that doctors should not solicit work.” He also adds, “Doctors are also not supposed to use the Red Cross logo. It can be used only for free medical aid.”

Several hoardings mention the list of services the hospital offers and at times the names of doctors too are mentioned. Healthcare providers seem unperturbed as no action is taken by the authorities.

Dr Mallikarjun Rao, who retired as a doctor from the Railways, says, “The AP Medical Council is defunct. The elections are not held. What can one expect?”

Lokesh, a senior medical officer, says, “Most corporate hospitals resemble suites of five star hotels and in the name of services and facilities they fleece patients.”

Some hospitals have several branches and they advertise through hoardings. Hospitals have also resorted to ‘Happy Hours’ concept where the consultancy charges are less during afternoon hours. There could be nothing more ridiculous than this says, S Sainath, a medical transcriptionist. Dr K Ramesh Reddy says the need of the hour is to incorporate a provision in the Medical Establishment Regulatory Act 2008.

A medical practitioner, however, can make a formal announcement in the press when starting a practice, on change of address, temporary absence from duty, on resumption of another practice, on succeeding to another practice and public declaration of charges.