Colaba doctor couple offers guaranteed IVF success, loses licence
The registrations of Dr Aniruddha Malpani, Dr Anjali Malpani have been suspended for three months.
The Maharashtra Medical Council of India has suspended registratiozns of a Colaba-based doctor couple running an IVF clinic following complaints that they made promises of guaranteed pregnancy on their web site and even offered refund if the treatment failed.
According to the Medical Council order, the couple – Dr Aniruddha Malpani and Dr Anjali Malpani – will not only have to shut their clinic on Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg for three months, but they will also not be able to practice elsewhere during this period.
Though the Malpanis removed the offer – which guaranteed pregnancy in four IVF cycles and a full refund if the treatment failed – from their web site in December 2014, the medical council continued its probe.
The final order suspending the two doctors’ registration for three months was issued in March this year under the Medical Council’s Code of Ethics, 2002.
The Medical Council order also refers to a warning issued to the couple in 1996 on similar grounds. Calling the two doctors repeat offenders, the Medical Council has said that they were given enough opportunity to cease advertising.
Dr Anjali Malpani on Saturday said that she or her husband had not yet received any letter of suspension of the registration from the Medical Council of Maharashtra. However, she added that the offer made to prospective patients was only to help them. “Most of the patients coming to us have already spent a fortune on IVF treatment elsewhere. What we offer them is transparency and that’s where the part of refund comes in.”
Dr Malpani asked why the medical council was only trageting their clinic while there are many other doctors and medical institutions advertising their services in newspapers and in audio-visual media. “You can’t toy around with a reputation we have built over the past 25 years. I suspect some people envious of what we have achieved to be behind this,” she said.
Maharashtra Medical Council chief Dr Kishore Taori said the council has not cherry-picked the Malpanis and that action against several doctors has been initiated for advertising their services. “The code of ethics is very clear. If a complaint in made to us and we find reason to believe that the concerned doctor has erred, the council has no option but to take action. In this case, the two doctors were warned earlier too,” he said.
Dr Malpani said that the suspension of her and her husband’s registration will affect a lot patients coming to them from other countries. “Once we receive the Medical Council’s letter, we will consult our lawyer and decide the next course of action.”
This is the first time the Maharashtra Medical Council has cancelled the registration of doctors over misleading ads. Until now, the council used to issue only warnings to doctors. Leading hospitals and doctors may now face similar action.
The Maharashtra Medical Council of India has suspended registratiozns of a Colaba-based doctor couple running an IVF clinic following complaints that they made promises of guaranteed pregnancy on their web site and even offered refund if the treatment failed.
According to the Medical Council order, the couple – Dr Aniruddha Malpani and Dr Anjali Malpani – will not only have to shut their clinic on Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg for three months, but they will also not be able to practice elsewhere during this period.
The complaint against the couple was filed by the Advertising Standards Council of India in 2014 and the suspension of their registrations came after nearly a three-year long inquiry during which the doctor couple was called to depose before a committee on three occasions.
Though the Malpanis removed the offer – which guaranteed pregnancy in four IVF cycles and a full refund if the treatment failed – from their web site in December 2014, the medical council continued its probe.
The final order suspending the two doctors’ registration for three months was issued in March this year under the Medical Council’s Code of Ethics, 2002.
The Medical Council order also refers to a warning issued to the couple in 1996 on similar grounds. Calling the two doctors repeat offenders, the Medical Council has said that they were given enough opportunity to cease advertising.
Dr Anjali Malpani on Saturday said that she or her husband had not yet received any letter of suspension of the registration from the Medical Council of Maharashtra. However, she added that the offer made to prospective patients was only to help them. “Most of the patients coming to us have already spent a fortune on IVF treatment elsewhere. What we offer them is transparency and that’s where the part of refund comes in.”
Dr Malpani asked why the medical council was only trageting their clinic while there are many other doctors and medical institutions advertising their services in newspapers and in audio-visual media. “You can’t toy around with a reputation we have built over the past 25 years. I suspect some people envious of what we have achieved to be behind this,” she said.
Maharashtra Medical Council chief Dr Kishore Taori said the council has not cherry-picked the Malpanis and that action against several doctors has been initiated for advertising their services. “The code of ethics is very clear. If a complaint in made to us and we find reason to believe that the concerned doctor has erred, the council has no option but to take action. In this case, the two doctors were warned earlier too,” he said.
Dr Malpani said that the suspension of her and her husband’s registration will affect a lot patients coming to them from other countries. “Once we receive the Medical Council’s letter, we will consult our lawyer and decide the next course of action.”
This is the first time the Maharashtra Medical Council has cancelled the registration of doctors over misleading ads. Until now, the council used to issue only warnings to doctors. Leading hospitals and doctors may now face similar action.
