Medical Council of India’s (MCI) anti-quackery act may become more stringent as the state medical councils have put forward this demand in front of the new governing body of the MCI.

MCI held a meeting with the state medical councils earlier this month where the issue to curb quackery was discussed.

“The meeting was attended by 18 out of 24 state medical councils and it was a grand success,” said MCI governing body’s chairman Dr S K Sarin.

Delhi Medical Council’s (DMC) registrar, Dr Girish Tyagi told Governance Now that according to the present Section 15 (3) of the MCI Act, a doctor practicing allopathic medicine without a professional degree can be imprisoned for a period upto one year or a fine of Rs 1,000 or both.

“We want the imprisonment to increase to three years and the fine to go up to Rs 50,000. This will be a deterrent factor for quacks. The offence will also be cognizable and non-bailable if the term of imprisonment is extended to three years,” said Tyagi.

As of now in Delhi, quackery cases are handle under Section 27 of the DMC Act. If booked under this Act, the person gets three years rigorous imprisonment and Rs 20,000 fine.

Talking to reporters earlier this month, Sarin had said, “The state medical councils have brought our attention to the anti-quackery bill which needs urgent attention. MCI will be looking in to it. Meanwhile, the state medical councils are working on the ethics and accountability issues.”

Once the term of punishment is revised under the MCI Act, it will be applicable in all states in India.