The T&T Medical Association has raised concerns about an alleged violation of the regulations of the Medical Board of T&T (MBTT) by former health minister Dr Fuad Khan.
They have written to MBTT querying whether a full-page newspaper advertisement with the former health minister Dr Fuad Khan’s name advertising medical services at two private hospitals constituted a breach of the board’s code of ethics.
The full-page newspaper advertisement appeared in the Guardian’s October 31, 2015, edition. Khan’s services as a surgeon, listing an email address for him and the telephone numbers for St Augustine Private Hospital and St Clair Medical Centre for kidney stone treatment, were advertised.
Dr Austin Trinidade, public relations officer of the Medical Association, was contacted on Thursday by the Sunday Guardian for his comment on the matter.
Trinidade said: “It’s just a query. We haven’t made a complaint at the moment.”
“We’re asking whether it breached any of our anti-advertising laws. As doctors we’re not allowed to advertise.
“We’re bound by a code of ethics and it was kind of upsetting to see a big, full-page spread advertising his services that was brought to our attention by some of our members.
“I think it’s distasteful as far as I’m concerned.”
He said the association had asked the MBTT for advice and clarification on whether there was a contravention of the board’s code of ethics.
Trinidade said there were some differing views among association members on whether it was acceptable for doctors to advertise.
He said Khan was out of practice for a whole five years and he was actually informing his patients that he was back in practice.
Trinidade said there had been “quite a few cases” of doctors advertising their services.
Prior to Khan’s case, a citizen Horace Grant had written a letter to President Anthony Carmona in 2013 calling on him to revoke the appointment of former member of the Integrity Commission, ophthalmologist and surgeon Dr Shelly-Anne Lalchan, because of an alleged breach of the regulations of the medical board by her advertising her private practice.
He said doctors were allowed to put a small notice in the newspapers if they were changing the address of their practice to inform their patients.
Trinidade said there was the perception and feeling sometimes that if the doctors didn’t do that, it would appear as if they were abandoning the care of their patients.
He said doctors weren’t allowed to advertise a particular specialty or skill and it was frowned upon.
Trinidade said doctors could advertise openly in the US, but T&T followed the British medical system which did not allow any kind of advertising.
He said a doctor could not even put a very large sign by his office, since it must conform to a certain size.
Trinidade said the rules governing doctors in T&T were so strict that at one point in time they were not even allowed to put their names in the yellow pages, but that has since been relaxed.
He said a very good doctor with an established reputation didn’t need to advertise his name, it would be known by people and become a household name.
He said if the medical board believed that there is a case, it would pursue it. However, there was no medical board in place at the moment.
Deyalsingh: Board will investigate
When Dr Varma Deyalsingh, treasurer of the Medical Board of T&T, was contacted on Thursday, he said that he could not comment on the individual case involving Khan.
He said, however, if other doctors voiced a complaint that a breach had occurred, the board was duty bound to investigate.
Deyalsingh said if a breach was committed by a doctor, the medical board had the power to censure or reprimand, suspend or strike the individual off the registrar.
He said if there were any breaches in the code of ethics by Khan, he would be surprised because besides being an excellent surgeon, he was a seasoned politician as well.
Deyalsingh said Khan’s wife, Dr Carol Bhagan-Khan, was also a knowledgeable attorney, and he was sure that Khan was guided well on his rights, code of conduct and behaviour, and any sort of action he took would be well measured and thought out.
He said if there was a case to be answered by Khan, he wanted to assure other members of the medical profession who were concerned about this that the board would investigate the matter fully. Deyalsingh said the board was above politics or any partisan behaviour.
Khan: The MBTT has a
personal agenda against me
When Khan was contacted on Friday by the Sunday Guardian, he said he hadn’t received any letter of notification from the medical association of its action. He said he had heard talk, however, that the association said he should not be advertising his lithotripter, kidney stone-shattering machine.
Khan said that the medical association’s stance was nonsense because everyone else advertised their services and the association was not taking action against them and he believed that some members of the medical board had a personal agenda against him.
He said he intended to continue to advertise his less invasive and cost-effective kidney stone treatment and HIFU (high intensity focused ultrasound) which was the best treatment for prostate cancer and the only one in the Caribbean.
A defiant Khan said he was willing to take the medical board and medical association to court as far as the Privy Council if necessary to prove discrimination and victimisation and he was going full swing at them.
The former vice-president of the medical board said he tried to change the advertising practices because people were supposed to know what new, low-cost cutting-edge techniques were available to them but the board wanted to stay in the dark ages of medicine.
Khan also said the association was also an archaic body that hadn’t done anything for the advancement of doctors over the years and it was almost targeting him specifically.
He said that when he was health minister, the medical board had to produce a specialist register based on the law because he indicated to the board that it was not business as usual for it.
Khan explained that specialists were doctors who had proper qualifications and specialist qualifications by different colleges.
He said some of the members on the medical board did not want to give the young opthalmologists specialist recognition because they wanted to protect their turf, and that was the reason they became angry with him.
Code of ethics
According to the Medical Board’s Code of Ethics in relation to advertising: “Any practitioner resorting to any such practice is guilty of professional misconduct and liable to erasure.”
Advertisements in the Lay Press
The use of advertising columns of the lay press to publicise the professional activities of individual medical practitioners, even in the absence of a name (eg by using a box number) is unethical.
A particularly reprehensible form of advertising of this type is the submission to the press directly or through an agent of information concerning the personal movements, vacation or new appointments of a medical practitioner, for publication in the social columns.
Holding of Public Office
It is the recognised duty of a physician to take his share as a citizen in public life and to hold public office, should he so desire. But it is essential that the holding of public office is not used as a means of advertising himself as a doctor.
Publicity is necessary in carrying out the duties of Medical Officers of Health and other posts in the public health services. Provided that this is not used for the individual advancement in his profession, it may rightly be allowed.