Complaints about negative portrayal of doctors forwarded to NCERT: Government

NEW DELHI: Government today said complaints received from Indian Medical Association ( IMA) about negative portrayal of doctors in NCERT social science class VII text book has been forwarded to the council for "taking appropriate action".

IMA had recently objected to the negative portrayal of a section of doctors in the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) and the cost of cure in private hospitals in comparison to government hospitals.

"Complaints have been received from the office bearers of IMA and some of its state branches. These complaints have been forwarded to NCERT for taking appropriate action," HRD Minister Smriti Irani said in a written reply in Lok Sabha.

The complaints were about the social science text book under the sub-heading 'healthcare and equality' published in February 2007 and in circulation since the 2007-08 academic session.

"In order to earn more money, these private services encourage practices that are incorrect. At times cheaper methods, though available are not used. For example, it is common to find doctors prescribing unnecessary medicines, injections and saline bottles when tablets or simple medicines can suffice," the book read.

IMA had also objected to the content on the 'cost of cure' on page 22 and 23 which indicated the differences in the cost of treatment in government and private hospitals.