Rema Nagarajan, TNN, Oct 25, 2010
NEW DELHI: After public declarations of taking a policy decision to never endorse any products, the Indian Medical Association has sent a show cause notice and threatened disciplinary action against the doctor who acted as a whistleblower by raising the issue of IMAs endorsement of Pepsi and Dabur products.
Dr K V Babu of Payyanur in Kerala filed the complaint against the IMA endorsements in June 2008. He has pursued his complaint since then and used the RTI Act to expose how the Medical Council of India (MCI) was dragging its feet on taking action against the IMA.
He had also filed several complaints against the endorsement in the health ministry seeking immediate steps to stop the continuing endorsement. So far the MCI has not taken any action after having sent a show cause notice to the IMA more than two months back to which the IMA had filed a reply. The MCI had claimed that they were waiting for a legal opinion.
According to the show cause notice issued by Dr Rajagopalan Nair, the secretary of the Kerala State Branch of the IMA, on October 13, IMA KSB had opposed the endorsement undertaken by the IMA national headquarters on several occasions such as the state working committee meetings as well as the central working committee meetings. The show cause notice further stated that Dr Babus press statements had brought disrepute to the association and members of the IMA KSB which was a serious infringement especially as he had been warned earlier to desist from approaching the press.
The letter stated that Dr Babu's conduct was prejudicial to the interest of the association and had brought the medical profession of the state into disrepute. He has been summoned to appear before the State Working Committee of the IMA on November 12. In turn, Dr Babu has written to the MCI seeking its intervention in the matter as his action in seeking action against endorsement of products by IMA was in keeping with the code of ethics.
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