Medicos Legal Action Group

07/05/2026

Shouted hoarse for Donkey Years !!!!

I have been saying from umpteen podiums to thousands of deaf ears that the legal heirs will have to pay compensation if the accused doctor dies and hence committing su***de is also not a way out for doctors. Now the world of whatsapp warriors has arisen from the dead and I am inundated with messages to do something about the SC verdict which has simply upheld the law which was in existence since 2002.

The Kumud Lall vs Suresh Chander Roy (Deceased) through LRs of Supreme Court delivered on 4th May 2026 has stirred a hornets nest among doctors. Few however will recall my words in innumerable articles and lectures on indemnity insurance and consumer protection Act etc that this issue will be cause of much heartburn someday. In my article published in medical dialogues about 5 years ago also I had raised this issue.

https://medicaldialogues.in/medico-legal/should-doctors-heirs-renew-their-indemnity-insurance-after-their-death-78127

In a case decided by NCDRC in 2015 against 3 doctors the State Consumer dispute redressal commission had dismissed the complaint against 3 doctors. The matter went in appeal to NCDRC but since Dr Tarun Bedwal had died soon after the order of the District forum, the NCDRC held that SCDRC was not justified in dismissing complaint against Dr Tarun Bedwal without returning a finding that there was no negligence or deficiency on his part in treating the complainant. Since the two surviving doctors only had appealed the decision of the District Commission and no one had represented Dr Tarun Bedwal, the order of District Commission against Dr Tarun Bedwal was restored against the estate / legal heirs.

The issue was well covered both in Consumer Protection Act 2002 Amendment as well as in CPA 2019.

In the event of death of a complainant who is a consumer or of the opposite party the provisions of Order XXII of the First Schedule to the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908) shall apply. CP Act 1986 (2002 Amendment) Section 13(7)

CPA 2019, Section 38(12) In the event of death of a complainant who is a consumer or of the opposite party against whom the complaint has been filed, the provisions of Order XXII of the First Schedule to the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 shall apply

Order XXII of 1st Schedule of Civil Procedure Code states; —The death of a plaintiff or defendant shall not cause the suit to abate if the right to sue survives.

Since indemnity insurance in India is claim made based and not event based, meaning that insurer which is providing insurance on the day claim was first raised and not the insurers who covered the risk on day of event / surgery. It is established that an ongoing case where decision may not have been taken will require legal heirs to pay any compensation awarded upto the extent of the inheritance received from the deceased doctor. There are a few issues which remain to be clarified

1) Since a case can be filed many years later, Can a doctor’s legal heirs be sued after death of a doctor for alleged negligence of the doctor.

2) If so then Do insurers sell indemnity insurance for a deceased doctor even if legal heirs are willing to pay for the same.

Dr Neeraj Nagpal
Managing Trustee,Medicos Legal Action Group (MLAG)
Ex President IMA Chandigarh
Director Hope Gastrointestinal Diagnostic Clinic,
SCO 1066-67 Aerodale Market, New Sunny Enclave Sector 123 Mohali 140301
09316517176, 9814013735
HOPE CLINICS;9465109935, 9478082176
email; [email protected], [email protected] [email protected]
For Contributions; "Medicos Legal Action Group" Ac No 499601010036479 IFSC code UBIN0549967 Union Bank Sector 35 C Chandigarh;
Website; http://www.mlag.in
you can also follow us at https://www.facebook.com/medicoslegalactiongroup

A non profit trust registered at Chandigarh by a group of allopathic doctors from all over the country who wish to legally engage the Govt of India regarding its various policies concerning medical profession, training, working conditions.

09/04/2026

100 CRORE SCAM ?

https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/chandigarh-news/docs-hospitals-booked-as-cbi-unearths-fraud-in-ex-servicemen-s-medical-reimbursements-101775243635090.html

I am reading daily and repeatedly news reports of a 100 crore ECHS scam unearthed in Chandigarh. Having been empanelled with ECHS for many years and mine being one of the first establishments to voluntarily renounce ECHS empanelment due to very low rates and exceedingly complex paperwork and compliances, I was intrigued. I had the opportunity to go through the First Information report filed by the Police in this case and found some interesting discrepancies.

1) What is the total amount bills generated by Manthan Healthcare for ECHS has not been mentioned.

2) What was the total amount of Bill generated by Dharam Hospital & Kare Partners has not been mentioned

3) The total billing for ECHS for this region cannot be more than 100 crores and if so then were all patients treated under ECHS scheme in the region billed fraudulently. This figure of Rs 100 crore is a figment of someone’s imagination meant to create a “sensational news”.

4) If some patients were repeatedly hospitalized and there treatment billed for is suspected to be fraudulent then obviously the suspicion would also go to the patients who must be party to the fraud. Why would someone without any financial incentive get repeatedly admitted in ECHS empanelled Hospitals if they were not sick.

5) Either these patients were genuine and hence the bills raised also genuine or then these patients whose names are mentioned in the annexure to the FIR but have not been made accused should be also treated as accused of participating in this alleged conspiracy to commit fraud.

6) Vague unsubstantiated allegations have been made in the FIR with only one genuine allegation that is Unauthorised diversion of a regulated hospital interface to a non empanelled intermediary ; This is simply a complicated way of saying that bills generated by Dharam Hospital & Kare Partners were being uploaded to ECHS portal by employees of Manthan Healthcare. If this is so was the employee of Manthan involved in this also a part time employee of Dharam Hospital ?

7) At Manthan premises Finding of stamps, signatures and stationary of Dharam Hospital and Kare Partners are offences against them. If any action is to be initiated against Manthan Healthcare it is the right of Dharam Hospital , Dr Ajay Aggarwal and Kare Partners and not by ECHS officials or others.

8) Given the rates prescribed for treatment under ECHS I find it understandable if multiple establishments share a consultant or an employee to complete the paperwork and upload to ECHS treatment records and bills of patients treated under ECHS.

I denounce the repeated publication in mainstream newspapers the extrajudicial and purely speculative conviction of renowned doctors without law having taken its due course.

Dr Neeraj Nagpal
Managing Trustee,Medicos Legal Action Group (MLAG)
Ex President IMA Chandigarh
Director Hope Gastrointestinal Diagnostic Clinic,
SCO 1066-67 Aerodale Market, New Sunny Enclave Sector 123 Mohali 140301
09316517176, 9814013735
HOPE CLINICS;9465109935, 9478082176
email; [email protected], [email protected] [email protected]
For Contributions; "Medicos Legal Action Group" Ac No 499601010036479 IFSC code UBIN0549967 Union Bank Sector 35 C Chandigarh;
Website; http://www.mlag.in
you can also follow us at https://www.facebook.com/medicoslegalactiongroup

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has recently intensified its crackdown on systemic corruption within the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS), uncovering multi-crore rackets involving fraudulent medical claims and bribery.

25/02/2026

24/02/2026

Punjab Human Rights Commission Member inspects GMCH Sector 32

https://youtu.be/6wrpoFKTPds?si=kSwlxPFiqgpcIWGL

Publicity hungry Sh Joginder Singh Member Punjab Human Rights Commission Member with four security officers and cameramen obstructed working of Government Medical College Chandigarh Sector 32 Emergency and ICU for more than one and half hour to make a video berating doctors, nurses , Medical Superintendent and Head of Medicine Department over lack of bed sheets, ventillators and patients lying on stretchers.

Sir, Your concern for the general public is touching indeed. Your visit forced doctors to attend to you leaving patients unattended and some may have actually died during your visit because doctors and nurses were focussing on you and your entourage. For this itself criminal charges should have been filed against you for preventing a public servant from doing his duty. You find patients lying on stretchers a violation of basic human right, and want doctors of GMCH to refer patients to PGIMER shows that you with your perks live in another world. In PGIMER patients are lying three patients on one bed and on floor and outside grounds. Getting a stretcher in PGIMER is akin to finding a diamond in a coal mine.

It is with great amusement that I could admire your performance in this video which gave Amir Khan in Satyamev Jayate a run for his money. Patient relative pressing ambu bag instead of patients being on ventilator is indeed abhorrent as a human rights concept. How however does a Head of Department of Medicine provide the ventilator to the 80 persons in need when he has only 9 given to him. These 9 ventillators also had patients on them who needed them. If any wastage of public money is visible in this video it is on the salaries of the entourage of yours and you should set an example by donating 71 ventillators needed from your own resources. Your objection and surprise that there is no attendant for the ventilator is justified but you need to address your energies to Health Secretary, and Ms Nirmala Sitaraman who has gradually decreased the Governments investment in healthcare.

The healthcare inflation in India is 11.5-15% so when the increased budget is factored into the healthcare inflation there is actually a 4.7-7 percent decrease over the actual expenditure in 2020-2021. The services that can be bought with the 2026 budget hence are less than the services which could be bought with 2025 budget. Also the health sector proportion of the national GDP has decreased from 0.37 % in 2020-21 to an estimated 0.29% in 2025-26. Even the sectors share of the total union budget has fallen from 2.26% to approximately 2.05% over the same period indicating that healthcare is not a priority for those who govern us. With gradual decrease in budget for healthcare and vacant posts in all government hospitals where do bedsheets and beds and ventillators come from. We can of course trim the bureaucracy and their perks and divert the funds to the serious duties of any Government ie Healthcare and education.

If you really wished to do your job you could have visited the place incognito noted the fallacies and then issued notices to find out who is responsible for the lacunae and then done something about it. Instead you with your entourage created a spectacle and shot a movie purely for the sake of publicity putting a display of your acting skills.

Dr Neeraj Nagpal
Managing Trustee
Medicos Legal Action Group
9316517176

GMCH 32 'ਚ ਡਾਕਟਰਾਂ ਦੀ ਵੱਡੀ ਲਾਹਪ੍ਰਵਾਹੀ Deadbody ਨੂੰ ਵੀ ਪੰਪ ਰਾਹੀਂ ਦਿੱਤਾ ਜਾ ਰਿਹਾ ਸਾਂਹ !Ventilator ਨੂੰ ਚਲਾਉਣ ਵਾਲੇ ਟੈਕਨੀਸ਼ੀਅਨ ਨਹੀਂ ਤੂੜੀ ਵ.....

11/02/2026

11/02/2026

Will Corporates defend the profession ?

https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/supreme-court-seeks-union-nmc-responses-on-plea-to-exclude-doctors-from-consumer-protection-act-522578

The Big Guns have stepped in. Rejoice my fellow impotent brethren. MLAG as a Group of concerned medical professionals we had raised our voice against continued inclusion of Medical Professionals within the purview of Consumer Protection Act first in Bombay High Court in 2024 and then in Supreme court only to be snubbed by the judiciary and heckled by Indian Medical Association for being hasty and premature. I have cried hoarse for more than 30 years that continued inclusion of healthcare as one of the “services” as defined under the Consumer Protection Act is detrimental to medical profession as well as against public interest. The summary nature of proceedings and the consumer centric approach of the consumer courts has made litigation for alleged medical negligence a popular sport where chances are that you will end up getting a windfall or at the very least a few lacs is very high. The number of cases filed in consumer courts against doctors and hospitals has increased exponentially from a few hundred in 1995 to more than 65000 reported in 2025.

We used to crib that corporates care only for their bottom line and nothing else. Thankfully to protect that bottom line which was under threat because of the astronomical compensations being dispensed by consumer courts, the Association of Healthcare Providers have approached the Supreme Court against the inclusion of healthcare services under CPA. My worry is that with their battery of high priced lawyers they may get a verdict which would hang the doctors out to dry while protecting the investors of the conglomerates owning the corporate hospitals in India today.

Yes we at MLAG will again try to implead and get ourselves heard but I plead with every single doctor in the country as well as the IMA and specialty organizations that do not miss this opportunity. MLAG is a very poor organization and though we are dedicated, we lack the financial strength and this should not be a hurdle in getting a favourable outcome for medical professionals.
Meanwhile though I feel hesitant and apologetic having to come repeatedly with a begging bowl, I request everyone to help us please mount a credible defence in this matter in our impleadment application in Supreme Court and contribute as much as you can to ;

Medicos Legal Action Group
Account no. 49960101003479
IFSC; UBIN0549967
Union Bank of India Sector 35 C Chandigarh

Dr Neeraj Nagpal
Managing Trustee,Medicos Legal Action Group (MLAG)
Ex President IMA Chandigarh
Director Hope Gastrointestinal Diagnostic Clinic,
SCO 1066-67 Aerodale Market, New Sunny Enclave Sector 123 Mohali 140301
09316517176, 9814013735
HOPE CLINICS;9465109935, 9478082176
email; [email protected], [email protected] [email protected]
For Contributions; "Medicos Legal Action Group" Ac No 499601010036479 IFSC code UBIN0549967 Union Bank Sector 35 C Chandigarh;
Website; http://www.mlag.in
you can also follow us at https://www.facebook.com/medicoslegalactiongroup

02/02/2026

Should I be Thanking you Mr Prime Minister ?

Hoodwinking the general public is the basic tenet of politics and I do not blame the ruling party or the ruling prime minister for continuing with what their predecessors have done. I read the headline that you have given nearly a 10 per cent increase in the healthcare budget crossing 1 lac crore for the first time. Feeling pleased with this news since I had been repeatedly asking for an increase of budget for healthcare I started to dissect it.

The healthcare inflation in India is 11.5-15% so when the increased budget is factored into the healthcare inflation there is actually a 4.7-7 percent decrease over the actual expenditure in 2020-2021. The services that can be bought with the 2026 budget hence are less than the services which could be bought with 2025 budget. Also the health sector proportion of the national GDP has decreased from 0.37 % in 2020-21 to an estimated 0.29% in 2025-26. Even the sectors share of the total union budget has fallen from 2.26% to approximately 2.05% over the same period indicating that healthcare is not a priority for those who govern us.

With the exponential increase in MBBS seats and reduction of NEET cutoff to zero percentile to fill the increased Postgraduate seats leading increased production of doctors I expected the Government to create more jobs for doctors. The regional medical hubs and NIMHANS 2, may create few jobs for doctors but will in no way be sufficient to offset the loss of contractual jobs caused by the gradual decline in central share for state transfers for National Health Mission decline from 76 % (2014-2015) to 43 % (2024-25) despite the marginal increase in 2026 budget.

Without budgeting for hiring doctors, the system created remains only on paper since buildings are budgeted but salaries are not. The number of Primary Health Centers in India have remained stagnant at less than 27000. This number has not changed much in the last 3 decades. Population meanwhile has increased manifold. The MBBS doctors working in PHCs in 2025 was 30000. To provide 24 hour cover one would need at the very least 3 MBBS doctors per PHC with One more between 5 PHCs to cover for duration when someone is on leave. This would ideally mean having 96000 MBBS doctors which leaves about 66000 doctors to be employed. Now with nearly 1,30,000 MBBS seats what is the bottleneck except political will.?

I am thoroughly disappointed that healthcare is not a priority even in this budget. I hope that someday I will get a government which places healthcare at the proper pedestal it deserves.

Dr Neeraj Nagpal
Managing Trustee,Medicos Legal Action Group (MLAG)
Ex President IMA Chandigarh
Director Hope Gastrointestinal Diagnostic Clinic,
SCO 1066-67 Aerodale Market, New Sunny Enclave Sector 123 Mohali 140301
09316517176, 9814013735
HOPE CLINICS;9465109935, 9478082176
email; [email protected], [email protected] [email protected]
For Contributions; "Medicos Legal Action Group" Ac No 499601010036479 IFSC code UBIN0549967 Union Bank Sector 35 C Chandigarh;
Website; http://www.mlag.in
you can also follow us at https://www.facebook.com/medicoslegalactiongroup

A non profit trust registered at Chandigarh by a group of allopathic doctors from all over the country who wish to legally engage the Govt of India regarding its various policies concerning medical profession, training, working conditions.

14/01/2026

Victorious IMA ?

On 12th of January 2026 Indian Medical Association had formally written to Shri J P Nadda Honourable Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare requesting lowering of NEET PG 2025 qualifying cutoff score as 18000 PG seats were vacant. The National Board of Examinations on 13th January notified a revised cutoff reducing the required percentage of marks for a General Category student to be 12.88 percent or 7th percentile. A Reserved category student would be eligible to join postgraduate medical program even if he scored minus 40 marks out of 800 or zero percentile (-5 percent).

Some questions come to mind

1) The ultra rapid response (notification within 24 hours of the request) of the NBE to a letter written to Sh J P Nadda which would normally take minimum 7 days to be officially referred to National Board of Examination for its inputs. This tearing hurry makes me think that asking IMA to give a request letter was a formality required by the Government, which was happily obliged by IMA to cater to the hunger of the Private medical college mafia to fill their PG seats. The fact that many Member parliaments and senior politicians themselves own or are in managing positions of these colleges muddies the murky water further.



2) Do have more Post Graduate Medical seats than are needed in the country. There has been a devil may care approach recently with one agenda that is to increase MBBS and Post Graduate seats in the country with or without infrastructure or human resources. Is this good for our country or are we simply feeding the greed of the business of medical education.



3) Should we not remove MBBS qualification as a requirement for Post graduation given the massive political inclination to create and fill more and more MBBS and PG medical seats. Maybe graduates of Indigenous systems of Medicine, Bachelors of Science, and humanities could also score more marks if permitted to give the NEET PG exam so that private medical education mafias are assured a decent return on their investment.



4) Should IMA be celebrating this. Are unemployed and underemployed MBBS and MD/MS doctors good for the profession ?



5) Is there any road map as to how many surgeons / gastroenterologist / neurosurgeons / cardiologists are going to be needed in India by the year 2035 ?



6) Are we producing doctors or are we mass producing assembly line products carrying a pre fix “Dr” with no earthly use given the quality of raw material used. There should have been a demand for us to produce this product, what is happening is that we have created the product (increased seats) and then are trying to create demand for these seats.



7) How is the welfare of IMA members served by this action of IMA ?



Dr Neeraj Nagpal
Managing Trustee,Medicos Legal Action Group (MLAG)
Ex President IMA Chandigarh
Director Hope Gastrointestinal Diagnostic Clinic,
SCO 1066-67 Aerodale Market, New Sunny Enclave Sector 123 Mohali 140301
09316517176, 9814013735
HOPE CLINICS;9465109935, 9478082176
email; [email protected], [email protected] [email protected]
For Contributions; "Medicos Legal Action Group" Ac No 499601010036479 IFSC code UBIN0549967 Union Bank Sector 35 C Chandigarh;
Website; http://www.mlag.in
you can also follow us at https://www.facebook.com/medicoslegalactiongroup

09/01/2026

https://youtu.be/IhcCibkMOuI?si=fEkg-0XtsITqxBVh

Bhartiya Nyay SanhitaConsumer Protection ActSelective AccountabilityClinical Establishment ActNational Medical Commission ActPCPNDT ActBMWDRules

24/12/2025

12 th MLAG Annual Conference 2026

Kindly fill this form once you have paid registration amount

https://docs.google.com/.../1FAIpQLSeXZnktmJE.../viewform...

Dr Neeraj Nagpal
Managing Trustee
Medicos Legal Action Group
9316517176