Today, The Supreme Court sought responses from Union Law, Health and Ayush Ministries on a PIL seeking recognition of AYUSH doctors as Registered Medical Practitioners. The plea also urges forming an expert committee to update a 1954 drug advertising law.
NEW DELHI: Today, the Supreme Court requested responses from the Union Ministries of Law, Health, and Ayush regarding a public interest litigation (PIL) that aims to classify AYUSH doctors as ‘Registered Medical Practitioners’ under the law, similar to allopathic doctors.
The PIL also calls for the formation of an expert committee to assess and update the schedule of a 1954 law, which regulates the advertising of drugs in certain circumstances, in light of current scientific advancements.
A bench consisting of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi acknowledged the arguments presented by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay, who represents the petitioner, a law student and his son, Nitin Upadhyay and issued notices concerning the PIL.
The Chief Justice inquired of Ashwini Upadhyay,
“Is he your son?”
The lawyer responded, “Yes,”
The bench remarked,
“We thought he would receive some gold medal or something, but instead, he is filing PILs now. Why don’t you focus on studying? … Issue notice. Only for your son. So that he studies well,”
The petition requests that AYUSH doctors be recognized under Section 2(cc) of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954, as ‘registered medical practitioners’. This Act is intended to regulate drug advertisements in specific cases and prohibits advertisements for certain remedies that are claimed to possess magical qualities.
Section 2(cc) defines ‘registered medical practitioner’ as-
“registered medical practitioner‟ means any person,—
(i) who holds a qualification granted by an authority specified in, or notified under
section 3 of the Indian Medical Degrees Act, 1916 (7 of 1916) specified in the Schedules to the
Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 (102 of 1956) or
(ii) who is entitled to be registered as a medical practitioner under any law for the time being
in force in any State to which this Act extends relating to the registration of medical practitioner;
The plea asserts that,
“The Act was enacted to protect the public from false and misleading medical advertisements. However, Section 3(d) imposes a complete ban on advertisements concerning certain diseases and conditions,”
Section 3 of the Act deals with prohibiting advertisements of specific drugs for treating certain diseases and disorders. The petition argues that since AYUSH doctors and other genuine non-allopathic practitioners are excluded from the exceptions in Section 14 of the Act, “this blanket ban effectively stops their ability to advertise legitimate medications for serious ailments, leading to widespread public ignorance about available treatments.”
The plea, filed by advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey, criticizes section 3(d) of the Act for imposing a “complete and blanket ban” on advertisements for certain diseases and conditions, failing to differentiate between misleading ads and truthful, scientifically supported, lawful information.
It contends that the right to information regarding the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of serious, life threatening chronic diseases has been undermined by an overly broad prohibition on advertisements stemming from an “archaic law.”
The petition asserts,
“It is humbly submitted that the initial aim of the Act to impose an immediate ban on harmful advertisements has devolved into a blanket ban on all genuine medical advertisements by non-allopathic (AYUSH) doctors.”
Furthermore, the plea argues that truthful, scientifically substantiated, and non-deceptive advertisements regarding drugs and remedies serve as legitimate information dissemination to consumers and patients. It seeks a directive for the Centre to “constitute an ‘expert committee’ to review, revise, and update the schedule of the DMR Act in accordance with present-day scientific developments and evidence-based medical knowledge.”
FOLLOW US FOR MORE LEGAL UPDATES ON YOUTUBE
