The Kerala High Court ruled that the title “Doctor” or “Dr” is not exclusively reserved for MBBS doctors and can be used by other qualified professionals. The court held that no law, including the NMC Act, grants medical professionals an exclusive legal right over the prefix “Dr”.
Kochi: The Kerala High Court has dismissed petitions filed by some medical professionals who objected to physiotherapists and occupational therapists using the prefix “Dr” before their names. The court clearly held that there is no law that gives exclusive rights to MBBS doctors to use the title “Dr”.
Justice V G Arun explained that the word “doctor” did not originally belong only to medical professionals. He said that historically, the term was used for people who had reached the highest level of education and were permitted to teach subjects such as theology, law, and philosophy. According to the court, the meaning of the word evolved over time as medical science progressed.
The judge observed that university-trained physicians, who held degrees in medicine, later came to be commonly referred to as doctors. However, this did not take away the original meaning of the word. The court stated,
“Therefore, the contention that the title ‘doctor’ exclusively belongs to medical professionals is a misconception since even now, like in the olden times, persons with higher educational qualifications like PhD are entitled to use the title ‘doctor’.”
The High Court further examined the provisions of the National Medical Commission (NMC) Act and noted that the law does not contain any section that formally grants or confers the title “doctor” upon MBBS graduates or registered medical practitioners.
The court clarified that the Act only regulates medical education and professional conduct but does not provide any statutory right to use the prefix “Dr”.
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Justice Arun also referred to Section 40 of the Kerala State Medical Practitioners Act and rejected the argument that it gives doctors a legal entitlement to use the title. He said that the expression “title” mentioned in the provision cannot be interpreted to mean that medical professionals alone are legally allowed to prefix “Dr” to their names.
Emphasising this point, the court held,
“In the absence of such provision, the petitioners (doctors) cannot claim exclusive right to use the prefix ‘Dr’.”
The petitions had also challenged the scope of professional practice permitted to physiotherapists and occupational therapists under the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Profession (NCAHP) Act, 2021. The court refused to interfere with the Act or restrict the roles of these professionals.
The High Court declined to read down the provisions of the NCAHP Act to treat physiotherapists and occupational therapists merely as support staff for doctors registered under the NMC Act. It observed that such a step would amount to interfering with the legislative and policy decisions taken by the Central Government.
Justice Arun said that it would not be appropriate for the court to interfere with government policy or modify statutory provisions at the request of a limited group of medical professionals.
He remarked that it would be inappropriate to “tinker” with the policy of the central government or read down the provisions of the NCAHP Act or the Competency Based Curriculum for Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy at the instance of a few medical professionals.
With these observations, the Kerala High Court dismissed all the pleas, affirming that physiotherapists and occupational therapists are legally entitled to use the prefix “Dr” and that medical professionals do not have an exclusive statutory right over the title.
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