With the Medical Council of India issuing summons to about 300 doctors from across the country over graft charges, MCI president Jayshree Mehta today said stern action would be taken against those found guilty.
Mehta said the doctors have been asked to appear before the Ethics Committee after the MCI received a complaint from a pharmaceutical firm alleging that these doctors had accepted bribes for promoting an Ahmedabad-based pharma company by prescribing its medicines.
According to the complaint, the pharma company has been paying the doctors lakhs of rupees, gifting them cars and sponsoring family foreign trips for prescribing its medicines.
The complainant alleged that the doctors were running advertisements on TV set installed in their clinics because of which the turnover of the company grew to Rs 400 crore in just five years.
The Chief Vigilance Commissioner had received a letter in September last year which he forwarded to the Health ministry. The MCI took over the case in December 2013 and formed a sub-committee to investigate the doctors.
"All doctors have been told to get copies of their IT returns and bank statements. The probe is on," said Mehta, adding that till now 165 doctors have been questioned while 130 are yet to reply to its notice.
