Dr. RV Asokan, the chief of the Indian Medical Association, publicly apologized on Thursday for his comments made in an interview concerning an observation by the Supreme Court during a case involving the IMA. He expressed regret for his statement, emphasizing that he never intended to diminish the dignity of the court.
"The IMA National President Dr RV Asokan has released an apology regretting his statement to the press regarding a comment by the Supreme Court while IMA was party to the case," the statement issued by the doctors' association said.
Dr. Asokan highlighted that the Indian Medical Association (IMA) shares equal concern about issues of malpractice. He referred to the Supreme Court's April 23 order during a hearing related to Patanjali Ayurved Ltd's misleading advertisements case, where the Court observed that it believed the IMA also needed to address internal issues.
In an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court, Dr. Asokan also offered an unconditional apology for his remarks against the Court.
"IMA has filed a writ petition before the Supreme Court against misleading advertisements and malicious campaigns by some persons and entities against modern medicine professionals. With reference to certain statements made by me during an interview with PTI News, I have expressed regret to the Supreme Court and have also submitted my affidavit to the court for tendering my unconditional apology," Dr Asokan said.
"I never had any intention to lower the majesty or dignity of the Supreme Court," he added in his apology.
Recently, the IMA engaged in a dialogue with patient groups to address their concerns, resulting in the release of a joint declaration in Bangalore, as mentioned.
"There are several complaints relating to the alleged unethical acts on the part of the members of the Association who are abusing the trust reposed in them by patients and not only prescribing prohibitively expensive medicines, but also recommending avoidable/unnecessary investigations as a part of the line of treatment, for purely extraneous considerations," the bench had said.
Website designed, developed and maintained by webexy