Ethics panel summons 20 doctors accused of accepting bribe

PATNA: The ethics committee of

Bihar Council of Medical Registration

(BCMR) on Monday summoned all the 20 doctors against whom complaints were lodged for allegedly accepting

bribe

from an Ahmedabad based pharmaceutical company in 2012-14. The BCMR is in the state what the

Medical Council of India

(MCI) is at national level.

BCMR ethics committee chief

Amarkanth Jha

said the common charges against all the doctors were that they either went abroad on a junket arranged by the pharma firm or accepted flats as gifts. However, he refused to disclose the identity of the doctors, but said all of them are from Patna and are physicians.

"All the doctors presented documents to deny the charges. They presented their copy of passports to prove they didn't travel abroad during the period mentioned in the complaint. So far as buying flats is concerned, they presented bank passbooks and documents audited by the charted accountants which said they didn't buy any flats. They presented the originals as well," Dr Jha said after a meeting late Monday evening. All the doctors were individually "interviewed".

He said the complainant is anonymous and has also not given correspondence address. "We have court judgements that if the complainant is anonymous and hasn't provided his address details, the complaint can't be processed further," Dr Jha said, adding that they had already made similar presentations to the MCI ethics committee.

However, a final decision would be taken after analysing their documents in three days. "Post-analysis, we will call a full house meeting of BCMR whose chief is Dr Narendra Prasad. Then only we will reach a final decision," Dr Jha said.

The Ahmedabad-based firm has also been sent notice as allegations were made against it for bribing the doctors. "We are waiting for its reply," Dr Jha said.

Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.