Madras High Court asks how good a student was your doctor
Also, the university had denied the petitioner's claim that other students had been granted the internal assessment marks' more than once.
Chennai: The Medical Council of India (MCI) should insist upon all doctors displaying in their clinics the number of attempts they took for clearing exams so that the patients would know how their doctor had fared as student, the Madras high court said on Thursday.
"This will safeguard the interests of the patients", said Justice S. Vaidyanathan. While there could be no doubt that this order of far-reaching consequences would help the patient community in making 'informed choices' while deciding on who they should consult for healthcare, it might raise the hackles among the medical fraternity. …some of the doctors have become commercial brokers having nexus with pharmacists.”
This court has come across number of attempts availed of by the students undergoing the medical course and the first respondent-MCI will have to take a decision and ensure that the number of attempts made by the doctors will have to be displayed in the website and also in the concerned hospital/clinic, in order to enable the patients to know the performance of the doctor as a student in his career. This will safeguard the interest of the patients”, said the socially conscious judge, making a bold statement on the ugly side of what ought to be the ‘noble’ healthcare profession.
The judge was dealing with a petition from third-year MBBS student S.Srisakthish from the Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, who sought direction to the Pondicherry University to issue a fresh mark list to him by awarding the ‘improved internal assessment’ marks he had secured in November 2017 in Community Medicine paper.
Dismissing the petition, the judge said the student had failed in three subjects— Community Medicine, ENT and Ophthalmology— in three attempts taken in May 2016, November 2016 and May 2017.
Pointing out that the university had taken a “categorical decision” to allow ‘improvement of internal assessment marks’ only for the first-time seekers, the judge said the petitioner-student cannot seek such concession as a matter of right every time he took an attempt, though he is entitled to write the theory papers any number of times. Also, the university had denied the petitioner’s claim that other students had been granted the ‘internal assessment marks’ more than once.
The judge said the petitioner’s father being a doctor, instead of sending representation to the university for grace marks, “ought to have asked his son to study well and secure good marks, more particularly, in the interest of the patients and medical profession”.