Indian Medical Association (IMA) has now embarked on a campaign to raise awareness among its 2.5 lakh members about the rights of patients and the laws that govern the area.
"Every patient has a right to claim medical records pertaining to his treatment and the hospitals are under obligation to maintain them and provide them to the patient on request. As per the Medical Council of India (MCI) ethics regulations, not giving records can amount to professional misconduct," said Dr KK Aggarwal, Secretary General of IMA.
According to them, every physician shall maintain the medical records pertaining to his/her indoor patients for a period of three years from the date of commencement of the treatment in a standard proforma laid down by the Medical Council of India.
If any request is made for medical records either by the patients, authorised attendant or legal authorities involved, the same may be duly acknowledged and documents shall be issued within the period of 72 hours.
As per Regulation 1.3.1 of the Indian Medical Council (Professional conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002, "Every physician shall maintain the medical records pertaining to his/her indoor patients for a period of 3 years from the date of commencement of the treatment in a standard proforma laid down by the Medical Council of India and attached as Appendix 3".