Several doctors trying to get information from the National Medical Commission (NMC) on a plethora of issues have been stonewalled by a complete lack of response from the commission even on applications filed under the Right to Information (RTI). Ironically, being “opaque” was listed as one of the many failures of the Medical Council of India, which the NMC replaced.
Forget denial of information, most doctors’ applications for information were met with total silence. “When they don’t respond to letters seeking information, many of us were forced to file for the same information under the RTI law. They neither acknowledge the receipt of an RTI application nor respond denying the information. Even first and second appeals to appellate authorities are met with stony silence,” said Dr TV Padmanabhan, an IMA office bearer from Kerala.
“I had filed over 150 RTI applications with the MCI and had to file first appeal only thrice and approached the CIC only twice. But with the NMC, the denial of information by the CPIO (central public information officer) is 100%. It took seven decades for the MCI to become non-transparent. It has taken the NMC just 17 months to prove that they are more opaque than the erstwhile MCI,” said Dr KV Babu, an ophthalmologist. He had filed an RTI seeking a copy of the Charak shapath that NMC is said to have approved and also sought details of the meeting in which the decision regarding stipend for MBBS interns was taken.
NMC’s much maligned predecessor, the MCI, used to upload the minutes of all the meetings of its various panels. The NMC website in contrast does not have minutes of any of its meetings to date.
Dr Vikram Gupta, a radiologist, had filed an RTI application nine months back seeking minutes of the meeting in which the question of giving permission to doctors to practice a specialty on the basis of experience was taken up. “I asked for the information repeatedly and got no response. Then I filed an RTI application in June 2021. I filed the first appeal on July 31 and the second one on August 31. Since I heard nothing from them, I filed an appeal before the chief information commissioner in September, 2021. It is yet to come up,” said Dr Gupta. He added that he got a reply from NMC in December 2021 that his application has been transferred to the post graduate board.
A young doctor and RTI activist, Dr Vivek Pandey, had filed an RTI application in May 2021 seeking information on the validity of online classes. Getting no response, he filed appeals and finally got a response nine months later, in February this year. TOI sent emails to NMC seeking its reply to these accusations, but like with the doctors, our queries remain unanswered.
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