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Doctors can now refuse treatment to abusive, violent patients

Under Right to remuneration of RMP it’s mentioned in the notification that the consultation fees should be made known to the patient before examination or treatment of the patient…reports Asian Lite News

Taking a major step toward curbing the ongoing instances of violence against doctors, the National Medical Commission Registered Medical Practioner (RMP) (Professional Conduct) Regulations, 2023 official notification said that the doctors can now refuse to treat “abusive, unruly, and violent patients or relatives”.

“The RMP who attends to the patient will be fully accountable for his actions and entitled to the appropriate fees. In case of abusive, unruly, and violent patients or relatives, the RMP can document and report the behavior and refuse to treat the patient. Such patients should be referred for further treatment elsewhere,” the notification mentioned under the duties of RMPs towards their patients said.

These new regulations will replace the Medical Council of India’s (MCI) Code of Medical Ethics 2002. This is for the first time when doctors will have the right of refusal of patient treatment to the unruly and violent patients. The move is aimed at discouraging violence against doctors.

“RMP is free to choose whom he will serve, except in case of a life-threatening emergency. Having accepted a case, the RMP should neither neglect the patient nor withdraw from the case without giving adequate notice to the patient and his family. If a change of RMP is needed (for example, the patient needs a procedure done by another RMP), consent should be obtained from the patient himself or the guardian. The RMP who attends to the patient will be fully accountable for his actions and entitled to the appropriate fees,” the notification stated.

It’s also mentioned in the notification under duties of RMPs towards the public and allied healthcare professionals that doctors can’t receive any gifts, travel facilities etc from pharmaceutical companies.

“RMPs and their families must not receive any gifts, travel facilities, hospitality, cash or monetary grants, consultancy fee or honorariums, or access to entertainment or recreation from pharmaceutical companies or their representatives, commercial healthcare establishments, medical device companies, or corporate hospitals under any pretext,” it said.

However, this does not include salaries and benefits that RMPs may receive as employees of these organisations, the regulations stated.

Further, the regulations said, RMPs should not be involved in any third-party educational activity like CPD, seminar, workshop, symposia, conference, etc., which involves direct or indirect sponsorships from pharmaceutical companies or the allied health sector.

Under Right to remuneration of RMP it’s mentioned in the notification that the consultation fees should be made known to the patient before examination or treatment of the patient.

“A reasonable estimation of the cost of surgery or treatment should be provided to the patient

to enable an informed decision. RMP can refuse to treat or to continue to treat a patient if the fees, as indicated, are not paid,” it said. (ANI)

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Junior doctors announce new three-day strike in UK

They called this “simply not credible” as it would not match the scale of inflation this year, let alone pay erosion, and called on ministers to “get serious”…reports Asian Lite News

The British Medical Association (BMA) said they will strike in England from 14-17 June in a bid to force ministers “to put forward a credible” salary rise.

They warned that if the government “doesn’t change their position, we will strike throughout the summer”.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said it is “both surprising and deeply disappointing” that further action has been declared “while constructive talks were ongoing”.

But the BMA said talks “have now reached a stage where they are currently unproductive”. Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Robert Laurenson, co-chairs of the BMA Junior Doctors Committee, said: “Accordingly, we are in a position where we must call new industrial action.

“We are today announcing that junior doctors in England will hold another 72-hour full walkout between 0700 on Wednesday 14 June and 0700 on Saturday 17 June.

“And if the government doesn’t change their position, we will strike throughout the summer. This means we will call a minimum of three days of action every month for the duration of our mandate for industrial action.”

The BMA say they have had a 26% real-terms salary cut over the past 15 years and “deserve full pay restoration now”.

They want a pay rise of 35% to “stop the haemorrhaging of junior doctors from the NHS”, saying four in 10 are looking to leave the health service as it “staggers under a workforce crisis”.

In their statement announcing the new strike dates, the BMA accused the government of failing to recognise “the scale of our pay erosion” and said “this was made clear when they finally made their pay offer of 5%”.

They called this “simply not credible” as it would not match the scale of inflation this year, let alone pay erosion, and called on ministers to “get serious”.

However, the government accused the BMA of being “unwilling” to budge on their “unaffordable headline demands”.

A spokesperson said: “We made a fair and reasonable opening offer, and were in active discussions about both pay and non-pay issues.

“Unfortunately, it seems the BMA is unwilling to move meaningfully away from their unaffordable headline demands on pay.

“The government has been clear that strikes must be paused while talks take place, so while the BMA has chosen to end our current discussions, we remain ready to continue them at any point if strikes are called off.”

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Indian doctors honoured at American event

Kansas Cancer Center honours 2 Indian-American doctors.(PHOTO COURTESY: The University of Kansas Cancer Center)

Both professorships are appointed positions made by Roy Jensen, MD, vice chancellor and director of The University of Kansas Cancer Center…reports Asian Lite News

Two distinguished Indian-American members of The University of Kansas Cancer Center were recognised as “most productive faculty”, and formally invested with endowed professorships.

Breast medical oncologist Priyanka Sharma and gastroenterologist Prateek Sharma were honoured for their efforts in research and treatment of cancer and gastroenterology.

Priyanka, MD, who was invested with the Frank B. Tyler Cancer Research Professorship, is a leading expert on triple-negative breast cancer. She is a professor in the Department of Medical Oncology at the University of Kansas School of Medicine and co-leader of the cancer center’s Drug Discovery, Delivery and Experimental Therapeutics research program.

Priyanka has dedicated much of her career to identifying more effective therapies to treat this aggressive subtype of breast cancer, a University of Kansas Cancer Center release noted.

She serves as vice chair for the breast committee of SWOG and is a member of the SWOG Board of Governors and National Cancer Institute (NCI) breast cancer steering committee.

Prateek Sharma, MD, professor of medicine and director of GI Fellowship Training at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, was invested with the Elaine Blaylock Cancer Research Professorship.

A renowned gastroenterologist and scientist focusing on esophageal diseases, including cancer, he is president-elect of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.

He serves as chair on the Esophageal Committee of World Endoscopy Organization and chairs the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy artificial intelligence task force.

Both professorships are appointed positions made by Roy Jensen, MD, vice chancellor and director of The University of Kansas Cancer Center.

“Priyanka and Prateek Sharma are outstanding leaders and experts in their respective fields,” Jensen said in a statement.

“Through these endowed chairs, both can pursue more innovative ideas and create more inter-disciplinary collaborations leading to advances in cancer care,” he added.

The University of Kansas Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated comprehensive cancer center in the region, and one of only 53 in the nation, to receive this elite distinction.

NCI-designated cancer centers are recognised for their scientific excellence, including their depth and breadth of research.

They are the backbone of innovative research and care across the country, helping to pioneer most groundbreaking advances in cancer treatment.

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Doctors begin three-day strike in pay dispute

Talks between the government and other health unions will continue this week in the hope of a breakthrough in the long-running NHS pay dispute…reports Asian Lite News

Thousands of junior doctors in England walked out on Monday in three-day strike that will disrupt patient care, as they protest over pay they say can work out at less per hour than a barista.

The strike is the latest involving staff at Britain’s state-funded National Health Service (NHS), following walkouts by nurses, paramedics and others demanding a pay rise that better reflects double-digit levels of inflation.

The NHS will prioritise emergency care during the strike, which could come at the cost of routine appointments, surgeries and even some urgent cancer treatments, NHS England National Medical Director Stephen Powis said.

“This is likely to be the most disruptive set of industrial action days that we’ve seen all winter,” Powis told Times Radio.

“It is going to be a hard three days and it’s going to be quite challenging.”

Junior doctors in Britain are qualified physicians, often with several years of experience.

The British Medical Association (BMA) trade union says starting pay for junior doctors can be as low as 14.09 pounds ($17.04) per hour, one pence less than the top level of pay for a barista at British coffee chain Pret A Manger.

Junior doctors agreed in 2019 to an annual 2% pay rise as part of a four-year deal but say that is now inadequate in light of much higher inflation. Last month, 98% of the nearly 37,000 who took part in the BMA’s strike ballot voted in favour.

Robert Laurenson, co-chair of the BMA’s Junior Doctors Committee, said they had seen a real terms pay cut over the last 15 years due to public sector wage freezes.

“We’re just asking for that pay to be restored, and that looks like something like 19 pounds an hour,” he told Reuters at a picket line in London.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is under pressure to help end walkouts by health workers, which also hinder one his major priorities of cutting long waiting lists for treatment.

Health minister Steve Barclay on Friday invited the BMA for formal pay talks.

“We stand ready to have those discussions, and urge them to come and engage with us,” Barclay told reporters on Monday. “I don’t think a 35% pay demand is affordable.”

A broader wave of strikes in Britain, involving hundreds of thousands of public sector workers, comes at a time of pressured public finances and as Sunak’s government prepares to deliver a budget on Wednesday.

It comes ahead of strikes by several trade unions on budget day, in what will be one of the biggest single days of industrial action in years.

Workers taking action include civil servants, teachers, university staff, London Underground drivers and BBC journalists. Rallies will be held across the country, with a big protest in Westminster.

Public sector unions have lambasted the government for its handling of the pay disputes, which have been escalating for months.

NHS leaders have said they are concerned the walkout will take disruption caused by recent strikes to the next level, posing a risk to patient safety and setting back work to bear down on care backlogs.

Talks between the government and other health unions will continue this week in the hope of a breakthrough in the long-running NHS pay dispute.

The BMA said newly qualified medics make £14.09 an hour, less than a barista in a coffee shop, adding that junior doctors in England will have suffered a 26% real-terms pay cut since 2008/09.

An advertising campaign launched by the trade union says: “Pret a Manger has announced it will pay up to £14.10 per hour. A junior doctor makes just £14.09.

“Thanks to this government you can make more serving coffee than saving patients. This week junior doctors will take strike action so they are paid what they are worth.”

Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs, said: “Is £14.09 an hour really all junior doctors are worth? These are people who can be providing life-saving care, having trained intensively at medical school, and racking up around £100,000 worth of debt in the process.

“We are fully supportive of any worker getting an inflation-matching pay rise, and it is worth thinking on the fact that the government has cut junior doctors’ pay by so much that they could earn more serving coffee.

“Is it any surprise that junior doctors are looking for jobs abroad or in other fields when the government is telling them they are worth more than a quarter less than they were in 2008?

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told reporters: “It is very disappointing that the junior doctors’ union are not engaging with the government.

“We are actually having constructive dialogue with other unions who have accepted our offer to come in and talk through it.

“As you have seen with rail… they have put an offer to their members, we are having constructive dialogue with the nurses’ unions and all the other healthcare unions and I would urge the junior doctors to follow suit, and accept the government’s offer to come in and have talks, the other unions have done that and we are making progress.”

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Junior doctors vote for strikes in UK

The industrial action is expected to hit every NHS trust in England, with healthcare leaders warning of a devastating impact on services – including A&E…reports Asian Lite News

Health chiefs have warned of unprecedented disruption to the NHS after tens of thousands of junior doctors voted for a 72-hour walkout that is expected to hit every hospital in the country.

Almost 37,000 junior doctors belonging to the British Medical Association (BMA) – 98 per cent of those who voted – said yes to next month’s strike action, which represents a dramatic escalation of the pay row between NHS staff and the government.

The industrial action is expected to hit every NHS trust in England, with healthcare leaders warning of a devastating impact on services – including A&E – which will be left without junior doctors for three days straight.

With more than half of all junior doctors in England covered by the vote, it leaves the NHS facing “enormous” challenges, with healthcare leaders “deeply concerned” about how patients will be cared for.

Health secretary Steve Barclay said the ballot result was “deeply disappointing”.

Health chiefs called for the government to bring the “spiralling disruption” of strikes to an “immediate” end. Treasury sources said the position had not changed and no money would be made available for improved pay deals.

The BMA claims that, after a real-terms pay cut of more than 26 per cent since 2008, junior doctors were offered an “insulting” 2 per cent pay rise in the current year. The union has estimated that the government would need to offer a 35 per cent pay increase to address the cut.

One hospital chief executive warned that services will be forced to negotiate pay with consultants to cover junior doctor shifts, with hourly rates as high as £150.

According to a BMA “rate card”, which advises doctors on recommended pay levels for non-contractual work, consultants are advised to charge £158 an hour on weekdays from 7am to 7pm and up to £262 for weekend night shifts, for work including the provision of cover of junior doctor rotas.

The NHS chief said: “We’ve been told that we must do everything we can to avoid elective cancellations, but we will have to cancel elective work for safety reasons if we end up with this [junior doctors’] strike.”

Announcing the result, BMA Junior Doctors Committee co-chairs Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi claimed that Mr Barclay had failed to take part in meaningful negotiations on wages.

“This vote shows, without a shadow of a doubt, the strength of feeling among most of England’s junior doctors,” they said. “We are frustrated, in despair, and angry, and we have voted in our thousands to say, ‘In the name of our profession, our patients and our NHS, doctors won’t take it any more.’”

More than 47,600 junior doctors in England were eligible to vote in the BMA’s ballot, and almost 37,000 votes were cast, making it the largest ever turnout for a ballot of doctors held by the BMA.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said the prime minister “has a choice to make, which is to either seek some resolution with the trade unions or jeopardise his commitment to cut NHS waiting lists”.

“While health leaders will look to secure cover from consultants and SAS [specialty and specialist] doctors on these days, unfortunately we are likely to still see the cancellation of many non-urgent procedures, checks and other appointments, so that the most life-critical care can be prioritised,” added Taylor.

He also said that the most “worrying” development in the junior doctors’ strike is that emergency care will not be exempt.

Saffron Cordery, the deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, described the planned strike action as “extremely worrying”, particularly in light of a string of planned strikes by other health workers.

“Leaders across the NHS are deeply concerned about the impact this will have on their ability to deliver care, especially as hospitals will now be left without emergency cover by junior doctors for three days straight,” she said.

She added that hospital leaders are worried that the strike will “hamper efforts to tackle care backlogs and meet elective targets”.

The action by junior doctors is the latest industrial dispute to hit the NHS, as workers face a squeeze on living standards driven by soaring inflation.

Junior doctors who are members of the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association have already said they will strike for the first time in the union’s history. That action will take place on 15 March.

Tens of thousands of nurses in cancer wards, A&E departments and intensive care units in England will also stop work for 48 hours from 1 March. Meanwhile, thousands of ambulance workers staged a fresh strike on Monday in their long-running dispute over pay and staffing.

Barclay said: “We hugely value the work of junior doctors, and it is deeply disappointing some union members have voted for strike action. As part of a multi-year deal we agreed with the BMA, junior doctors’ pay has increased by a cumulative 8.2 per cent since 2019/20. We also introduced a higher pay band for the most experienced staff and increased rates for night shifts.

“I’ve met with the BMA and other medical unions to discuss what is fair and affordable, as well as wider concerns around conditions and workload. I want to continue discussing how we can make the NHS a better place to work for all.”

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Arab News UAE News

Match Day joy for WCM-Q’s new qualified doctors

Match Day joy for WCM-Q’s new qualified doctors

Newly graduated doctors of WCM-Q have been matched with residency programs at some of the world’s most prestigious university hospitals…reports Asian Lite News

The newly qualified doctors, who graduated this month, matched with residency training programs at elite institutions in Qatar and the United States, including Hamad Medical Corporation, Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, Case Western/University Hospital Cleveland, Mayo Clinic School of Medicine, the University of Pennsylvania, Tufts Medical Center in Boston, Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, among others.

The medical specialties the new doctors will be pursuing are anesthesiology, dermatology, emergency medicine, family medicine, internal medicine, neurology, obstetrics-gynecology, pediatrics and psychiatry. They will join their residency programs in the fall.

Nasser Al-Kuwari matched with the internal medicine residency program at Virginia Commonwealth University Health System in Richmond, Virginia. Speaking at an event held to mark Match Day, he said: “I am so happy to have achieved this match and very grateful to my family, friends and the faculty at WCM-Q for their kindness and support, which has allowed me to reach this goal. I send my heartfelt congratulations to my classmates for achieving excellent matches through their incredible dedication to their studies. I hope and have faith that we will all go on to achieve our ultimate aim of providing excellent care to our patients for many years to come, as well as making great contributions to research, medical education and our communities.”

Match Day is a momentous occasion in any doctor’s career, with thousands of students in the US and all over the world vying for places on residency programs. The process, which is administered by the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) in Washington, DC, is highly competitive – this year, 42,000 applicants competed for only 39,205 positions.

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This year, 13 WCM-Q graduates matched at Hamad Medical Corporation and 27 matched with residency programs in the US. The event featured speeches by Dr. Thurayya Arayssi, Vice Dean for Academic and Curricular Affairs at WCM-Q, and Dr. Sean Holroyd, Associate Dean for Student Affairs, both of whom warmly congratulated the new doctors.

Dr. Javaid Sheikh, Dean of WCM-Q, spoke at the event to give thanks to Qatar Foundation and the State of Qatar for their ongoing support for WCM-Q and to pay tribute to the achievements of the graduates. He said: “Match Day is truly a rite of passage in the lives of medical students and you will have fond memories of this moment that will stay with you forever. More than this, Match Day is a signifier that you have made it through an extremely rigorous course of study that has demanded immense hard work, determination, and self-sacrifice. It has been a pleasure and an honor for myself and the faculty to have joined you on this journey.”

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Kerala doctor performs UAE’s first bone marrow transplant on child

Kerala doctor performs UAE's first bone marrow transplant on child

A Keralite doctor in Abu Dhabi wrote himself into record books when he performed the first pediatric stem cell bone marrow transplant in the UAE…reports Asian Lite News



Dr. Zainul Aabideen, a native of Kannur, presently Head of the Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at Burjeel Medical City successfully performed the advanced allogeneic procedure on a five-year-old girl from Uganda with sickle cell disease.

Billed as the first such surgery done in the UAE, the patient’s 10-year-old sister donated her bone marrow for the transplant treatment at Burjeel Medical City, a flagship hospital of VPS Healthcare.

Sickle cell disease is a genetic disorder, which results in an abnormality in the hemoglobin found in red blood cells, causing them to become sickle-shaped and leading to several complications including anemia, swelling in the hands and feet, frequent pain, acute chest syndrome, and sometimes stroke.

Prior to the treatment, the child has been regularly admitted to the hospital due to complications arising from her disease since birth.

“As this was a life-threatening condition, the only curative option was bone marrow transplantation. Before this procedure, the patient suffered a lot. The entire care team here at the hospital and the child’s parents are delighted that the transplant will relieve this pain from her life,” said Zainul Aabideen, who headed a team of highly specialised doctors, including a pediatric intensive care team, for the procedure.’

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The patient has responded well to the treatment and will be discharged in a few days after a five-week stay at the hospital.

Earlier, pediatric patients in the UAE who had to undergo allogeneic stem cell bone marrow transplants travelled to the US, the UK, India, and other European countries.

Zainul Aabideen, Acompleted his MBBS from Calicut University in Kerala and a post-graduate degree in Pediatrics from the University of Mumbai.

He then moved to the United Kingdom to specialise and undertake further training in pediatric hematology, pediatric oncology, and pediatric bone marrow transplantation in various hospitals in the UK.

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India News

Delhi’s striking resident doctors call for total medical service shutdown

RML Hospital RDA Vice President, Dr Ajay Kumar, said that over a thousand doctors have been detained by Delhi Police, and they want an apology “for such barbaric action”…reports Asian Lite News.

Protesting resident doctors have called for total shutdown of medical services in Delhi hospitals after the police action against them on Monday afternoon.

The resident doctors, who have been protesting against delay in PG NEET counselling, were marching towards the Supreme Court when they were stopped by the police near ITO in the afternoon, and claimed that over a thousand of them were detained by the police.

Calling it a “black day” in the history of the medical fraternity, the Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (FORDA) said: “There will be a complete shutdown of all healthcare institutions today onwards. We strongly condemn this brutality and demand immediate release of our FORDA representatives and resident doctors.”

“A Black Day in the history of Medical fraternity of the nation. Resident Doctors, the so-called ‘Corona Warriors’, protesting peacefully to Expedite NEET PG Counselling 2021 in Delhi were brutally thrashed, dragged & detained by the cops. The medical fraternity of the nation must condemn this act in the strongest words & come forward in support. We urge all State RDAs of the nation to join the agitation! We all stand united in this fight against injustice,” the statement said.

Talking to IANS, RML Hospital RDA Vice President, Dr Ajay Kumar, said that over a thousand doctors have been detained by Delhi Police, and they want an apology “for such barbaric action”.

Meanwhile, protesting doctors gathered at the Safdarjung Hospital in the late evening to march towards the residence of Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya to protest. However, they were stopped on the way and taken to Sarojini Nagar Police Station.

RML Hospital RDA General Secretary Dr Survesh Pandey said that they were detained at the Sarojini Nagar Police Station while on the way to the Health Minister’s residence but released in the late night.

The doctors are holding a midnight meeting to intensify their protest.

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Resident doctors across Maharashtra halt OPD duty

After a meeting with state minister Aditya Thackeray, MARD decided to call off its protest and return to OPD duty from Tuesday…reports Asian Lite News.

Over 5,000 medical students in Maharashtra decided to halt work in outpatient departments (OPD)s on Monday to protest against the delay in holding counselling sessions for National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET)-PG across India.

However, the protest didn’t affect non-emergency services. Senior doctors and faculty members attended patients on OPD. Serious patients were referred to the emergency ward where resident doctors provided treatment. Some non-emergency surgeries were postponed. Later on Monday, after a meeting with the state government, the protest was called off and resident doctors decided to return to OPD duty from Tuesday.

While the NEET-PG examination was held in September 2021, counselling for admissions has not been conducted yet. This is due to a pending case with the Supreme Court over the Centre’s decision to provide 10 per cent reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in undergraduate and postgraduate admissions in medical and dental courses across India. Presently, the hearing in the case has been postponed to January 6, 2022.

“First the examination was postponed from April to September 2021. Now counselling has been delayed, which has wasted an entire academic year for PG aspirants,” said Dr Pranav Jadhav, vice-president (central) Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD).

After a meeting with state minister Aditya Thackeray, MARD decided to call off its protest and return to OPD duty from Tuesday. In the meeting, the state promised to recruit junior residents (non-academic) to cover up the deficient number of resident doctors to take care of the patients in Maharashtra. Also, the state has promised to request the Centre to fasten the counselling.

“The Central MARD in its state meeting has decided to reduce the intensity of agitation that is ongoing in concordance with National resident doctors associations for the time being and resume the OPD duty. However, the central MARD will continue supporting Nationwide strike,” reads the statement of MARD.

“The next hearing is in January and it will take another two-three months to start counselling. By then the state will declare admission of the next batch. So, we are completely confused about the whereabouts of our admissions,” said Dr Sangeeta Pal, a post-graduation aspirant from Aurangabad.

The delay in admissions has further weakened the skeleton staff at civic and government-run hospitals. With the flattening of the pandemic curve, hospitals with a shortage of doctors are struggling to provide treatment to the increasing number of non-Covid patients. Resident doctors are also involved in the mass immunization programme and monsoon-care management.

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