An article in the IMA News Letter recently said that the Ethics Committee headed by Dr K Mohan Kumar had met in Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Kottayam and Thrissur mainly to discuss the problems arising out of doctors demanding commission from scan machine owners for referring patients.

It had also discussed various other complaints against doctors lodged by patients and their relatives. The committee chairman said that many scan machine owners in the above centres told them that they were not eager to pay commission. But they were forced to continue with the practice owing to the fear that doctors might stop referring cases to them.

The doctors term the commission as `IC' (interpretation charge). While thousands of X-rays are taken at these centres, except for a few doctors, none demanded `interpretationcharge'.

The committee pointed out that X-rays and scans were part of investigations and the doctors who prescribed them should be able to read them without charging a fee on it. It said that the charges levied from the patients ranged from 30 to 50 per cent of the scan charges.

The committee said that this was nothing short of deceiving a patient who came to a doctor with utmost trust and belief that he/she would get relief from his ailments.