Medical Council of India, doctors and advertising

The Times of India recently reported that the Maharashtra Medical Council is taking action against doctors for advertising their skills. Whether or not to allow doctor to advertise has been a thorny issue for many years – not only in India but in the US as well . The traditional approach has been that doctors are professionals , and that advertising is below their dignity because they're not businessman. The belief used to be that there was no need for good doctors to advertise, as patients would come to them because of their reputation. However, we need to acknowledge that times have changed , and that we need to change with them. The purpose of advertising is not merely to flaunt the doctor’s skills or to solicit patients - it's a very efficient mechanism of allowing patients to know what special skills doctors can offer ; which specialist are available;  where they are available ; and how much they charge for their services. This is important information , which allows patients to select the right doctor for themselves. This is especially true in a democracy which is a capitalistic society , because patients have the freedom to choose . Patients are no longer passive recipients of medical care - they have become active consumers , who have the right to know what choices are available to them. By depriving them of this right , the Medical Council is actually doing them a disservice . This does not mean that doctors should be given a free hand and be allow...
Source: The Patient's Doctor - Category: Obstetricians and Gynecologists Tags: maharashtra medical council advertising by doctors Medical Council of India medical advertising Source Type: blogs