The Travancore-Cochin Medical Council (TCMC) has asked its disciplinary subcommittee to immediately probe the complaint regarding the running of Al-Shifa Hospital by Shahjahan Yousuf Sahib without proper qualifications.
The hospital had been providing modern medicine treatment for piles. It is alleged that people without proper qualifications in the field were treating patients at the hospital.
Rani Bhaskaran, president of TCMC, told The Hindu that the five-member committee chaired by the Director, Health Services, who was also a member of the TCMC, had been asked to submit a report next month. The hospital owner would also be asked to appear before the committee.
If the allegations were proved true, the TCMC would immediately revoke the registration of the person, said Dr. Bhaskaran. It was on the basis of his registration with TCMC that Mr. Shahjahan had taken his membership with the Indian Medical Association (IMA).
IMA complaint
According to the IMA’s complaint, Mr. Shahjahan had mentioned that he was an intern at a hospital in Uttar Pradesh and doing a course in Proctology abroad during the same period. He was said to have obtained a DHMS degree in 1987, but his Intermediate qualification was said to be in 1992. IMA State president V.G. Pradeep Kumar said this case had come up before the IMA’s Ethics Committee more than 10 years ago when patients had complained about the unqualified doctor running the hospital.
However, two modern medicine doctors had protected the hospital owner at that time saying that Mr. Shahjahan was only an owner and that they were providing treatment at the hospital.
IMA had suspended the membership of Mr. Shahjahan, pending probe. He had taken the membership in 2011-12 on the basis of his registration at TCMC.
