Doctors in India plan to launch network against corruption and unethical practices

A group of doctors in India have announced plans to launch a campaign to curb what some of its members describe as rampant commercialisation trends and widespread unethical and irrational practices in the healthcare sector across the country.

The group, which includes senior consultants and surgeons in the private healthcare sector, community medicine specialists, and medical college faculty staff, proposed last week to establish a network for ethical, rational, and “decommercialised” healthcare and to urge other like-minded doctors to join the organisation.

The move came amid growing concerns among medical staff that ethical standards in Indian medical practice have fallen alarmingly low. Members of the group cited abundant anecdotal evidence of doctors seeking and paying commissions for referring patients …