Families demand reform of India’s medical negligencesystemMohuya Chaudhuri

New Delhi

Families of patients exposed to medical negligence in India arecalling for the inclusion of non-doctors on the bodies that reviewnegligence cases, to ensure that their decisions are informed,unbiased, and proper.The campaign is led by People for Better Treatment, anorganisation set up by Kunal Saha. Last year Saha was awardeda record Rs115m (£1.1m; €1.4m; $1.9m) in damages in amedical negligence case concerning his wife, Anuradha, whodied aged 36 at a private hospital in 1998.1 The case hasprompted calls to transform the healthcare system and itspractices, in the public and private sector.Saha said, “Medical negligence is rampant in India. My fightwas not only about compensation. It is both medical and ethical.Doctors are protected no matter how big the error, especiallyby the medical councils, which are notorious and corrupt. Thegovernment has also been a miserable failure in protectingpatients.”He said that a robust regulatory system was needed to monitorand deal with such cases, because families who lost theirrelatives through medical negligence usually got nocompensation and the doctors responsible went unpunished.Saha said, “We need an honest and transparent system, whichis proactive so that erring doctors can be punished. The judgment[concerningMrs Saha] is a landmark one but we cannot dependon the judicial process alone since it has its own flaws. It is nota good option. The government needs to transform the structureof medical councils.” He added that these councils also “fleece”relatives seeking redress, “since there is no control over fees.”People for Better Treatment wants councils to have to appointnon-doctors to panels that assess medical negligence claims, tominimise corruption and bias. In November 2013, theparliamentary steering committee on health called for theinclusion of people from outside the medical fraternity on thegoverning boards of medical councils, and Saha has filed a

petition with the Supreme Court demanding this. Saha said, “Ifthis happens, then it will be a positive step. Doctors needexemplary punishment; only then can we remove thecorruption.”People for Better Treatment has organised a candlelight protestat Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, to draw public attention to thecampaign. Saha is also trying to recruit doctors to the campaign.“There are good doctors who should step forward—otherwisethere will be no change,” he said.Meenakshi Jain, who lost her father in 2009 and is still fightingfor justice, said, “There is no transparent body and therefore nojustice for victims, who are not aware of their rights.”Her father died of amyocardial infarction in hospital three weeksafter being admitted for simple surgery, because his cardiologistforgot to restart cardiac medicine that had been discontinuedfor the surgery. No doctor monitored his heart condition duringthis period.Jain said, “When I asked for the medical records I was told notto pursue the case or I would regret it all my life. I approachedthe authorities and the police. But no action was taken. Thepolice approached the Delhi Medical Council, a private body,even though it is mandatory for them to go to a governmenthospital in a criminal medical negligence case. I also found thatmy father’s medical records had been tampered with. The initialreport shared with me in 2009 did not have an angiographyreport. It was created in 2011 just to save the doctorsresponsible. There is a clear nexus between the State MedicalCouncil, police officials, and private hospitals.”

1 Choudhuri N. Record damages are awarded in medical negligence case in India. BMJ2013;347.

Cite this as: BMJ 2014;348:g183© BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 2014

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BMJ 2014;348:g183 doi: 10.1136/bmj.g183 (Published 13 January 2014) Page 1 of 1

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