Mumbai doctor’s post on successful burns surgery draws flak

The medical body has given a two week notice to the surgeon to submit a detailed explanation of his actions.

The Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) has pulled up a south Mumbai-based plastic surgeon for his social media post about successfully treating a patient, who had suffered 60% burns.

The doctor, requesting anonymity, said that he had no intention to advertise or boast about the case. (HT Photo/Representational Image)

The medical body that regulates doctor’s registrations and laws related to medical ethics in the state has given a two week notice to the surgeon to submit a detailed explanation of his actions.

The notice was sent based on a complaint filed by social activist, Chetan Kothari, who came across the social media post of the doctor while searching for plastic surgeons.

“I was shocked to see him posing with a patient with claims that he was rushed to the hospital with 60% burns and discharged without any complications. There were no attempts made to maintain confidentiality of the patient by hiding his face, neither do I think any consent was taken before posting the picture on social media,” said Kothari.

He claimed that the post was a breach of the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette, and Ethics) Regulation, 2002 (6.1.1), which bars doctors from ‘boasting about a case,’ in any form of advertising.

The doctor, requesting anonymity, said that he had no intention to advertise or boast about the case, but he was only creating awareness about how a critical burn cases can be saved with timely management.

“Chances of survival reduce in patients with burn injuries over 50-60%. But we managed to successfully treat the patient and the social media post only meant to offer a ray of hope for families of patients with similar injuries,” said the surgeon, who is an alumni of Sir JJ Hospital and Sion Hospital. He added that a formal consent was taken before clicking the picture of the patient from him and the family and there was no breach of confidentiality.

Officials from MMC said that the notice was sent as a response to Kothari’s complaint and the course of action will be decided only after studying the report submitted by plastic surgeon.