Last week, the Supreme court of India subjected the right of practicing the medical profession under the ambit of Right to life and proper health care of patients. Keeping the view of not only the right of medical practitioners but also the right of life and proper health care people who need medical care and treatment, Supreme court of India gave furnished the lines of practicing medicines under the name of Paramparya Vaidyas.
The supreme court of India upheld the judgment of Kerala High Court, 2003 that practitioners having no recognized or approve knowledge or qualification or having little, playing with the lives of thousand and million common people, are duly not registered under the statue cannot be permitted to continue their practice or start practice as Paramparya Vaidyas.
A bench of Justice RK Agrawal and Justice Mohan M Shantanagoudar observed that number of qualified medical practitioner were few, earlier, as there were less teaching and training institutes imparting Vaidays, Hakims, etc. Now, the position has been changed and a quite good number of medical colleges are imparting education in various subjects and streams of medicine. Since, people having no recognized or approved qualification, having little knowledge about the indigenous medicine, are becoming medical practitioners and playing with the lives of thousand and million of people. This uacks commit blunders and results in the loss of precious lives.
Extensively comparing the scenario, court stated that Travancore- Cochin Meical Practitioner Act, 1953 and Indian Medicine Central Council, 1970 were enacted on the same lines aand hence every practitioner shall be deemed to be a practitioner registered under the act, if, his name stands entered in the appropriate register maintained and has been issued a certificate of registration under the Act.
Dismissing the appeal the bench held;
“The government had been vigilant all along to stop such quackery. A number of unqualified, untrained quacks are posing a great risk to the entire society and playing with the lives of people without having the requisite training and education in the science from approved institutions. The Travancore-Cochin Medical Practitioners Act, 1953 as well as the Indian Medicine Central Council Act, 1970 were also enacted on the similar lines.
Every practitioner shall be deemed to be a practitioner registered under the Act if at the commencement of this Act, his name stands entered in the appropriate register maintained under the said Act and every certificate of registration issued to every such practitioner shall be deemed to be a certificate of registration issued under this Act. But in the present case, the appellants herein have failed to show that they possessed requisite recognized qualification for registration entitling them to practice Indian system of medicines or their names have been entered in the appropriate registers after the commencement of this Act”