The Tamil Nadu Government Doctors’ Association (TNGDA) has made a decision to refrain from performing elective procedures and surgeries until protective clauses under relevant sections are introduced in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (“BNS Act”). The decision came in response to the request made by government doctors in Tamil Nadu to the Chief Minister, M K Stalin, to intervene and ensure that protective clauses are added to the latest act that replaced the Indian Penal Code (IPC). 

The President of TNGDA, Dr. Senthil in his letter to the Chief Minister referred to Section 106 of BNS Act 2023 that empowered police officers to register an FIR for every instance of negligence and not only those that amounted to criminal negligence. Further, sections 88, 89 and 90 were also pointed out wherein medical practitioners can be barred by the police from performing medical termination of pregnancy in 95% of cases as specified in the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act 1971. Further, if doctors follow these sections of the BNS Act, only 5% of the MTP cases can be taken up. Other indications for terminating pregnancies such as foetal anomalies, rape victims, contraceptive failure and all other indications where termination may be needed beyond 16 weeks of pregnancy, cannot be taken up. 

With the BNS Act having come into effect on 1st July 2024, doctors across the country expressed dissatisfaction with specific sections, especially Section 106 of the BNS Act which replaced Section 304A, which has made it mandatory for registered medical practitioners to serve a jail term if they are found guilty of negligence not amounting to culpable homicide. The problem in the section, as pointed out by the President of TNGDA, is how imprisonment has become mandatory while earlier under the IPC, it was either imprisonment for up to 2 years or a fine. He also pointed out that the new BNS Act does not provide a provision for a distinction between negligence that could be considered criminal negligence and otherwise. He explained that this has made doctors anxious and hesitant as they can be booked under the BNS Act Act even for cases of a frivolous nature. 

WHO CAN PERFORM SPINE SURGERY? 

Spine surgeries are required for spinal deformities, spinal inspections, trauma, spine tumours, stenosis and herniated disks. These surgeries are either performed in an open (traditional) spine surgery procedure or by using minimally invasive techniques involving a smaller incision and the insertion of a tube. The National Medical Commission has provided much-required clarity on the question of “Who can perform spine surgery?” 

On 15.07.2024, the Ethics & Medical Registration Board of the National Medical Commission issued a notification on the ‘Eligibility of Orthopaedic surgeons for performing Spine Surgery.’ The notification was issued in response to the representation of the Association of Spine Surgeons in India. A meeting was held by the Postgraduate Medical Education Board (PMEB) on 24/11/2023 and PMEB has stated that apart from spine surgeons, both orthopaedic and neurosurgeons are competent to perform spine surgeries.