Watchman of doctors: Amar Kumar Singh, secretary-cum-registrar of Jharkhand State Medical Council. Picture by Arun Kumar Thakur

Jharkhand State Medical Council (JSMC) was notified on January 28, 2003. Amar Kumar Singh, a senior orthopaedician, was elected its first secretary-cum-registrar. Singh is also the secretary of Jharkhand Orthopaedicians Association. He has been vice-president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) in undivided Bihar.

Following a fellowship to Belgium, he mastered hand surgery, and was head of the orthopaedics department in Central Coalfields Limited?s Gandhinagar Hospital. In a way, Singh does not take the honorarium and the JSMC office is run from his nursing home free of rent.

Singh tells Arun Kumar Thakur about the role and objectives of the three-year-old state medical council and the problems that it is facing in this state.

First question first. What is the difference between JSMA and the state IMA, because while IMA is frequently in the news, very few, except doctors, know about JSMC?

Simply put, the role of the state medical council is to look after the standards of treatment being provided by the doctors and also to ensure that doctors do not indulge in unethical practices. The state medical council can also inspect medical institutions to check if teaching is satisfactory and according to the norms set by the Medical Council of India (MCI). On the other hand, the better known IMA is an association, more like a labour union.

Where does the role of the MCI end and that of the JSMC begin?

MCI accords recognition to a medical institution when such an institution opens. After that the MCI is not in the picture till there is a complaint against that institution. But thereafter it is left to the state medical council to see it that the standards prescribed by MCI is maintained in the institution concerned.

What is the composition of JSMC?

The state council has 10 members of which three are nominated by the state government, two are deans of medicine of the two universities that have medical colleges, two are representatives of IMA, and three are elected representatives.

Doctors who are registered with the state medical council elect the three representatives.

Why is it necessary for a doctor to register with the state medical council?

A doctor cannot engage in medical profession, like examining a patient and writing a prescription, without registration with the state medical council. If someone does that and there is any complaint or complication, then that doctor will be treated as a quack and he can run into serious trouble as he will have to face charges as a quack.

What, then, is the procedure and status of registration?

When a person acquires an MBBS degree he has to apply for temporary registration for the period of 365 working days, which is known as rotating internship. During this period he works in different departments under the supervision of senior doctors in a recognised medical institution. It is after completing the internship that he is qualified and authorised to examine a patient and write a prescription.

At this point he has to apply for permanent registration, by paying a registration fees of Rs 1,000. Thereafter, when he acquires a higher qualification, like an MD or MS or MCh, he has to apply again to get that qualification registered.

At present, there are 600 doctors registered with JSMC. This is in three years? time, as the state produces 190 doctors every year, which is quite a good figure.

Besides empowering a doctor to practise medicine, does this registration serve any other purpose?

The list of registered doctors is sent to MCI, where the details are entered in the Indian Medical Register. That also helps in creating a databank ? like how many eye surgeons and how many cardio surgeons and so on ? are there. This, in turn, helps in health care planning.

Do all doctors get registered?

Practically all doctors get their permanent registration number after the MBBS degree, but very few care to get their specialities and higher qualifications registered. That creates problems for some of them when applying for jobs, as then they are required to produce the MCI registration certificate and they have to establish why the certificate does not mention their higher qualification or speciality.

JSMC is a body created by the state. What facilities has the state provided so far?

Except the notification of the members, nothing. At present, JSMC office runs from a room of my nursing home with the help of a part-time clerk and, more recently, a part-time accountant. The state government is expected to provide an office, staff, and office furniture and Rs 2,000 as monthly honorarium to the secretary-cum-registrar. But I do not take any monthly honorarium.

How many institutions have been inspected by JSMC and how many times?

Unfortunately, JSMC is yet to have three members elected by the doctors registered with JSMC. It has been decided to hold the elections after at least 1,000 doctors are registered. Once the state council has all the members, it will start functioning at full strength.

At present, it has provided relief to doctors of the state, who do not have to run to Patna anymore to get a state council certification.