Orissa High Court: In Public Interest Litigation (‘PIL’) petition against doctors practicing with fake degrees, the Division Bench of Chakradhari Sharan Singh, CJ. and M.S. Raman, J. directed the President of the Odisha Council for Medical Registration to appear in person before the Court in order to know about the steps for effectively dealing with the menace.
A PIL was filed by the Odisha State Legal Services Authority against the prevailing scenario of doctors practicing without proper degree and qualification. It was also alleged that some of the doctors were possessing fake degrees. In 2022, the Court directed the Additional Chief Secretary to Government, Health and Family Welfare Department, to come up with a comprehensive plan for conducting a survey to ascertain that every allopathic doctor practicing in Odisha possesses proper and relevant qualification. The Court had directed that the said survey should be conducted in a time-bound manner and to conclude it preferably within a period of six months.
The State assured that regular inspections of medical establishments will be conducted to ensure that the existing medical practitioners have updated licenses and possess genuine qualifications.
The Court directed the President of the Odisha Council for Medical Registration to be present in the Court on the next date of hearing, i.e., 05-03-2024 at 2.00 P.M. The Court said that the personal appearance of the President of the Odisha Council for Medical Registration was required for knowing his opinion on effectively dealing with the menace which the society is facing. The Court said that the conduct of persons acting as doctors without any valid degrees/certificates constitutes criminal offences.
The Court noted that a solution was suggested for the matter at hand, that there can be comprehensive online database of all the medical practitioners in the State accessible to the public to cross-check the genuineness of all the medical practitioners and the preparation of such database may provide necessary checks and balances on the fake doctors administering allopathic medicines. The Court also noted that the Respondents had not complied with the previous orders of the Court, hence, the matter was further listed for hearing on 05-03-2024.
[Odisha State Legal Services Authority v. State of Odisha, 2024 SCC OnLine Ori 1067, Order Dated: 27-02-2024]
