Against the backdrop of Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) framing charges against pathologists involved in unethical practices like forging signatures and releasing unverified diagnostic reports, two BMC run hospitals in Mumbai suburbs have recently been found flouting norms under MMC Act which does not allow lab technicians to sign and certify diagnostic reports.

The matter was also raised recently at Maharashtra Legislative Council wherein it was proposed to take a serious note of people having secured a Diploma in Medical Lab Technology (DMLT) running hospital path labs in BMC run hospitals.

As per MMC Act, laboratories issuing diagnostic test reports should have qualified pathologists or a Post Graduate degree in Pathology in its panel to oversee the tests and certify the reports.  There have been many cases reported in the past where diagnostic reports were given by technicians and not under the guidance of a qualified pathologists at private labs and now the same trend is being detected in BMC run hospitals.

Further compounding the problem is that one of the hospital’s pathology department in Mumbai suburbs is run under the supervision of the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) which could have been run under a qualified pathologist as its Head of the Department. The post of Head of the Department in the concerned hospital has been lying vacant for quite some time now.

Cases of violation of MMC act were earlier reviewed by MMC, the quasi-judicial body based on the complaints from Maharashtra Association of Practicing Pathologists and Microbiologists (MAPPM) in the past.  There were 6 such cases of private labs in the state where lab personnel issued diagnostic reports without getting duly supervised and authorised by a qualified pathologist.
 
MMC has recently suspended the registration of four pathologists in the state for working at multiple labs while investigating pathologists for signing on blank report papers and on which, laboratory technicians would later print reports of patient. One of the suspended doctors, for instance, had lent his name to over 15 labs in the city even when he was working full-time at Sion Hospital.