Mahad physician H S Bawaskar complains against a Pune diagnostic centre, which attempted to bribe him with Rs 1,200 for referring a patientRadiologists in several parts of state have stopped paying doctors, and their Mumbai counterparts likely to follow suit.Following a crusade by a Mahad-based doctor, city radiologists may stop paying commission to doctors for referring patients to their diagnostic centres, for the fear of being suspended by the Medical Council.Already, radiologists in Dombivili, Akola, Ahmednagar, Amravati and Nagpur have pledged to stop paying the doctors, and their counterparts in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai are likely to follow suit.It is common practice in the medical profession for doctors to receive money for referring patients to another doctor/hospital, or any diagnostic centre.Recently, Dr H S Bawaskar, who practices in Mahad, around 175 km from Mumbai, was surprised when he received a cheque of Rs 1,200 from a diagnostic centre in Pune. In his complaint to Maharashtra Medical Council, Bawaskar, a physician, said that N MMedical Centre, located in Sancheti Hospital, Pune, had paid him for “professional services” after his patient underwent a CT scan there.Bawaskar said he hadn’t asked the patient to get a CT scan done at any particular centre, and this was clearly a lure to get more patients. Besides filing the complaint, Bawaskar insisted that the Pune centre return the money to the patient, following which the Medical Council framed charges against the N M Medical Centre for violating the code of ethics.“Diagnostics centers will recover the money paid to doctors by overcharging patients. I won’t allow such illegal practice and let my patients suffer,” said Bawaskar, 63, a practicing doctor since 1976.Sources said that anywhere up to 40 per cent of the final bill is offered as commission to the referring doctor. “Big-ticket diagnostic centres offer higher commissions,” a source said.Dr Madhusudan Sarda, president of the Vidarbha chapter of Indian Radiological and Imaging Association (IRIA), said radiologists in Nagpur and other parts of the region have stopped paying commission since January 1.“The practice of paying commission exists because of greed on part of both radiologists and doctors. Over a period of time, most radiologists started offering commission to get business and doctors started demanding more money by threatening to change the referrals,” Sarda said.To ensure that everyone follows the norm, the association has been holding meetings every 10 days. “The biggest challenge is to ensure that everyone sticks to the rule,” he said.Vidarbha has more than 200 radiologists and 125 diagnostic centers. Radiologists in the Dombivili-Karjat-Kasara region have also decided to implement the no-commission rule from March 1. In Mumbai too, members are in process of planning a meeting to discuss the matter. “The practice has to stop and we are pushing for it nationally,” said Dr Bhavin Jhankaria, president of IRIA.Bawaskar’s complaint was taken up by the Maharashtra Medical Council president, Dr Kishore Taori. He called for an exclusive body to govern diagnostic centres. In Bawaskar’s case, the N M Medical Centre moved the Bombay High Court challenging the Medical Council’s action against it, saying it was a company and not an individual medical practitioner; hence it didn’t fall in the jurisdiction of the Medical Council.“These diagnostic centres are run by doctors who come under the purview of the Medical Council,” Taori said.Radiologists in Navi Mumbai said they are likely to implement the rule within two weeks. “We have had a couple of meetings already and we should be able to implement the rule in two weeks,” said a member of the Navi Mumbai-Raigad-Pen chapter of IRIA, which has more than 60 members.He said the radiologists were apprehensive as they feared their competitors may continue paying doctors and monopolise the business.