Medical negligence victims can now post complaints online

The Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) has decided to introduce an online complaint platform to help medical negligence victims ensure quick resolution of their issues.
This will be a major relief for patients who were awaiting justice in medical negligence cases. In the past few years, about 598 cases of alleged medical negligence have piled up at the council, waiting to be cleared.
On Saturday, an executive committee was formed with Dr Kishor Taori as president and Dr Avinash Yelikar as vice-president. Other members of this committee are Dr Shivkumar Utture, Dr Bipin Pandit, Dr Santosh Kadam, Dr Manoj Dehsmukh, Dr Ravi Wankhedkar and Dr SD Nandkar.
"To deliver immediate justice, we are going to introduce a system where medical negligence victim can file his complaint online on our website which will start within a month. After receiving a complaint, we will not delay any procedure. The concerned doctors and complainants will be called to resolve the issue as early as possible," said Dr Taori.
The committee has the right to suspend a doctors' license depending on the nature of negligence. Dr Utture said, "Earlier, the MMC working committee used to sit for meetings once in two months. Now, we will call meetings depending on the gravity of the pending cases."
As a state governing body, the MMC was formed in 1965 to investigate medical negligence cases. Elections were held every five years to form an executive committee. But in 1999, following a court verdict, the elections were declared null after objections about its process and an administrator was appointed.
The MMC plays a major role in cases of medical negligence since the police do not take immediate cognizance of such cases, resulting which negligence victims have to wait for committee reports by doctors at government hospitals which can take over a year. Patients and relatives often choose to give up because of the long waiting period.
The body also maintains a roster of registered medical practitioners and prescribes a code of ethics to regulate their professional conduct.