Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Medical Council (TNMC) has banned doctors from holding press conferences on the completion of any surgery and thereby avoid disclosing patients’ identities to the media. Dr. K Senthil, President of TNMC said “Doctors should not reveal the name and identity of patients. But, many hospitals, including private and government hospitals, have been repeatedly doing this. This will be considered an advertisement for the doctors who performed the surgery. The hospital can inform the press that such a surgery was performed without giving out any details of the patient. But the surgeons sitting and giving interviews will be viewed seriously.”
Dr Senthil added that names and photographs of doctors should not be published in any mobile applications. The websites of private hospitals should not have any details about doctors’ work. They can only mention names and certifications.In the past year, show cause notices were issued to five doctors in the State for violating provisions of the Tamil Nadu Medical Registration Act, 1914 and the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956.