Doctors have joined hands with people who have lost their dear ones to medical negligence, to form the first-ever organisation dedicated against malpractice by their fellow professionals.

Altogether 37 medicos, from various specialities, have come together under the umbrella of Janaswastha Swadhikar Mancha (JSM), which aims to look into cases of medical negligence in city hospitals and corruption in the profession.

The organisation will work hand in hand with People for Better Treatment (PBT), floated by NRI-doctor Kunal Saha.

Saha has been an unpopular figure in the city medical fraternity for his captious views of the medical councils, Indian Medical Association and the state government. However, a section of the doctors who once chided the Ohio-based specialist is now seeing him in a different light.

?Matters have reached such a state that a case of laxity on the part of doctors is reported almost every day. We, the medicos, are well aware of the rampant corruption in the system. Some of us feel that the time has come to fight back,? said Dr Debapriya Mullick, general secretary of the new organisation.

He added: ?It has been some years since Saha started his battle against medical negligence. He has opened a can of worms; we will now take the battle to the streets, to the court and to the government.?

The medical fraternity feels the formation of JSM is significant, because its members comprise doctors, several of them reputed and attached to government hospitals.

?We are in the process of forming an expert committee of specialists. The panel will look into each allegation of medical negligence and provide an opinion, based on which we will move court,? Mullick explained.

The PBT members will be at hand to assist the JSM doctors in their endeavour. ?We have been counselling people with genuine medical grievances for quite some time. It was our hope to convince doctors to join us in our fight. Our hopes have been realised,? said Moloy Ganguly, secretary, PBT.

The JSM will not fight sigh of issues like corruption in the practice of medicine and will try to expose the doctor-pharmaceutical company nexus in the city.

?Conferences abroad are often sponsored by the pharmaceutical companies. They lure doctors with invites. This and other issues like prescription of banned drugs will figure prominently on our agenda,? asserted Mullick.

Dr Hiralal Konar, secretary of Health Service Association and vice-president of the JSM, said: ?I don?t think that only a doctor can start a battle against medical negligence. But we are definitely better equipped to provide opinion and gauge the merits of cases. There are plenty of doctors? bodies, but none of them fight apathy and negligence.?