Category: Articles

    Announcement not Advertisement- A call to change the Indian Medical Code of Ethics

    Rethinking Medical Advertising Rules in Digital India

    The Medical Council of Tamil Nadu recently stopped doctors from having websites, calling it “unethical” and equating it to advertising. However, as India pushes toward a Digital India and as Justice Lodha reforms the Medical Council of India, we must ask an important question: Do our current medical ethics match today’s world?

    A Shrinking World

    India is now a global hub for medical treatment. Patients from around the world prefer Indian doctors because they offer strong expertise and affordable care. Yet, how can doctors present themselves globally without even a basic website?
    Patients never search for hospitals first—they look for a specific doctor. Therefore, doctor websites are not a luxury anymore; they are essential tools for visibility and patient trust.

    More Than Just Doctors

    Doctors aren’t just clinicians. Many run clinics, nursing homes, or hospitals. They invest heavily in infrastructure, medical equipment, and staff—including nurses, paramedics, administrators, and support teams. They also pay commercial rent, utilities, insurance, and regulatory fees.
    To sustain these responsibilities, they must reach the community. But the moment they display a small hoarding, create a website, or add a listing, medical councils often issue notices accusing them of unethical advertising. Meanwhile, non-medical or non-allopathic hospital owners freely advertise because councils cannot restrict them.
    Many residential societies do not even allow a visible signboard. So how can patients discover a doctor who is right there to care for them?

    Unseen Impact on the Economy

    India aims to eliminate the black economy. Yet when doctors cannot legally announce their services, they often rely on intermediaries. Referral cuts go to agents, drivers, ward staff, or anyone who sends patients to them.
    This system encourages hidden income and tax evasion.
    If patients could directly find doctors—through websites or legitimate listings—many malpractices, unnecessary tests, and excessive surgeries would naturally decline.

    Who Really Benefits?

    The restriction mainly benefits:

    • Corporate hospitals, because they are allowed to advertise

    • Clinic chains with strong marketing budgets

    • Older, already-established doctors who dominate councils and committees

    This creates an uneven playing field. Even the American Medical Association removed such restrictions to ensure fairness. Today, people relocate frequently for jobs, so they rely on the digital world to find healthcare. A family doctor cannot always guide them anymore. Corporate hospitals may assign inexperienced doctors or those chosen for political reasons—not necessarily the best specialist.

    We Want Clarity, Not Claims

    Doctors are not asking for exaggerated advertising. They simply want to inform the public about:

    • Their qualifications

    • Services offered

    • Fees

    • Areas of expertise

    • Special clinic timings

    • Any unique facilities

    Patients make their own decisions. They are not forced to undergo treatment. In fact, transparency empowers them to compare options and speak to existing patients for feedback.

    Unequal Rules

    Homeopaths, Ayurvedic practitioners, fitness influencers, dieticians, gyms, and wellness centers advertise freely in newspapers and online. They often make bold claims with little scrutiny.
    Yet strict rules apply only to allopathic doctors, even when they avoid promises of miracle cures.
    Medical Councils should punish false claims—but banning websites or signboards altogether is extreme and outdated.

    Misuse Through Complaints

    In a competitive environment, rival doctors sometimes file complaints simply to damage another doctor’s reputation. Leaked news reports can harm careers long before any legal verdict.
    Just as we have laws protecting doctors from physical assaults, we also need laws against reputation attacks through media or cyber abuse. Fair hearings must come before public shaming.

    Technology Moves Faster Than Rules

    Today, councils have banned websites and Facebook pages. Tomorrow they may target WhatsApp, Practo, Google listings, Instagram, or even new platforms that don’t exist yet.
    Regulating every digital channel is impossible. Instead, we need clear, reasonable guidelines that allow ethical communication. Doctors do not want to solicit patients or boast about results. They simply want to inform the public about where they practice and what they offer.

    Let Merit Win

    India’s healthcare landscape is evolving quickly. It’s time to give doctors a fair opportunity to reach patients without fear of penalties. Modern, ethical visibility helps patients make informed choices and reduces dependency on middlemen.
    In the end, the best doctors should get their due—not the loudest advertisers, nor the strongest hospital brands.

    This article was first published on the Mumbai Gynaec website. Moreover, it has been reproduced on this page with permission from the original author and owner, 

    Dr. Swati Allahbadia, so that readers can access updated and useful medical information.

    Cost of a Test tube baby

    The Times They Are Changing

    Fertility problems are rising in men and women. Because people marry later, face more stress, and live with growing pollution, many couples now seek help. Recently, the WHO lowered the normal limits for sperm count and motility. Although some couples improve with lifestyle changes, others need IVF. For example, couples with very low sperm counts, azoospermia (no sperm in semen), blocked tubes, or repeated treatment failures usually require a test-tube baby.

    What Is the Real Cost of a Test-Tube Baby?

    • Clinics charge about ₹40,000–₹50,000 for the basic IVF procedure.
    • Ovarian stimulation injections cost ₹40,000 to ₹2,00,000, depending on age, ovarian reserve, and protocol.
    • Tests cost ₹5,000–₹10,000.

    So the total cost usually ranges from ₹80,000 to ₹2,50,000.

    Can IVF Costs Be Reduced?

    Yes.
    Clinics now use soft-stimulation protocols that require fewer injections, which lowers medicine costs.
    With these methods, a full cycle — including medicines — can cost as low as ₹80,000.
    These protocols suit many patients and work well in experienced hands.
    A scopy is not always required; a good sonography may be enough.

    Why Do Doctors Quote Higher IVF Charges?

    1. Clinic Location

    Clinics in big cities pay higher rent and operational costs.

    2. Outsourcing

    Some doctors start IVF cycles but rely on other centres for scans, egg retrievals, or embryology.
    Some batch multiple patients and call a team for just a few days.
    Because soft-stimulation cannot be used in batches, costs increase.
    Calling visiting embryologists or endoscopic surgeons also adds expenses.

    3. Large Hospitals or Chains

    Centres with multiple owners, large staff, and marketing teams have higher running costs.
    A single-owner clinic can offer more flexible pricing.

    4. Possible Complications

    PCOS patients may develop hyperstimulation.
    Their embryos are usually frozen and transferred later, which increases costs.
    Freezing many embryos also adds to the bill.

    Does Age Affect Cost?

    Yes.
    Women in their late 30s and 40s often have fewer eggs and more abnormal eggs.
    They require higher doses of expensive medicines. Soft stimulation with embryo freezing and accumulation can give better results at similar cost. Sometimes using an egg donor is more cost-effective.

    The Uterine Lining Matters

    If the uterine lining is thin, doctors may add injections or medicines to improve it.
    These treatments raise the cost of the cycle.

    The Good News

    Competition

    More IVF centres, better media, and more pharma companies have lowered prices.
    Many centres now offer budget IVF options.

    More Experience

    Experienced doctors and embryologists can achieve pregnancies with fewer eggs.
    This reduces the cost of injections and overall treatment.

    Is a Second Cycle Better?

    Some studies show higher pregnancy rates on a second attempt. Still, you might pay twice with no success. Therefore, plan carefully.

    Last Words

    Think well. Choose your doctor wisely. Be informed.
    But don’t spoil your chances by bargaining or dictating the treatment plan.
    Trust matters.

    This article was first published on the Mumbai Gynaec website. Moreover, it has been reproduced on this page with permission from the original author and owner, 

    Dr. Swati Allahbadia, so that readers can access updated and useful medical information.

    TOO POSH TO PUSH!

    With Aishwarya Rai Bacchan recently giving birth to a baby girl, the natural way- no Caesarean, no chosen birth date- of her own birthday or the much sought after 11/11/11 newspapers were abuzz with this ‘abnormal’ mode of delivering a superstar. After all, she would be ‘too posh to push’.

    And reporters could no longer flog the story of the greedy and lazy gynecologist who waits on patients with a knife, ready to do a cesarean on any woman who does not oblige by popping out her babies at a convenient time.

    Here is a gyno’s end of the true story – to do or not to do … a Caesarean section.

    It’s true the rates of cesarean sections have gone up all over the world. I think this is why:

     

    1] Forewarned is forearmed: Sonography etc

    Plenty of investigations like sonographies and blood tests are available to us today that can warn in advance of babies who are growth restricted, too large, badly positioned or have loops of umbilical cord around their neck and could have problems with a vaginal birth.

    2] Bigger is not better

    With mothers being given tons of supplements their babies are sometimes too large for their pelvic structure and cannot be delivered ‘normally’

    3] The Test-tube baby epidemic

    Assisted reproduction [ test tube babies] have made it possible for women who otherwise would never have conceived, to have their own child. These are ‘precious’ babies often twins, conceived after years of trying and with slim chances of having another one and no doctor or patient in their right minds would leave anything to chance.- A planned cesarean with a team of doctors to attend on the baby is what makes the most sense.

    4] No prizes just lawsuits

    With women working and small family sizes, patients & doctors tend to avoid difficult vaginal births that could damage the baby’s brain, causing cerebral palsy [spasticity], weakness in limbs [ paralysis] or mental retardation. Medico-legal issues also force us to be liberal with caesareans.

    5] Surgery made easy

    With modern antibiotics, blood transfusion, good suture materials, and experience, complications from a cesarean section have become rare. It is often the better option in difficult cases. The mother could also suffer incontinence [inability to control urine or stool] or fistulae in badly done vaginal births as well as suffer severe tears, rupture her uterus and have excessive bleeding after wrongly applied forceps or other maneuvers.

    6] Short is sweet where labour goes

    It is true to some extent that doctors tend to finish up and go home for the simple reason that baby outcomes are better when labour is shorter-We are taught ‘A labouring mother must not see two sunrises or sunsets’

    7] The scarred uterus

    With so many surgeries being done on the uterus like caesareans, fibroid removals, unification of two uteri, patients risk their uterus bursting at the scar and we cannot take chances with the life of both the baby and the mother.

     So what’s really happening? Are we doing more caesareans than vaginal births? 

    The answer is a simple NO. Why not? I just said its best for the baby!

    1] The hen that lays golden eggs

    In India, gynecologists treat not just a patient but an entire neighborhood. 3 generations of women from the extended family are looked after by the same doctor. A scissor happy doctor would be dropped like a hot potato. One unnecessary cesarean means a chunk of patients lost. And yes, the competition is cutthroat.

    2] Because I can

    The word ‘Obstetrics’ means to stand by. Or wait patiently while a woman delivers, gently helping her ease her baby out into the world. We are trained to wait. And in India, with its huge population, a gynecologist in training does every kind of difficult delivery multiple times. We are trained to do it. We have to do it to please the family. So, really no reason for us not to do it.

    3] If it’s good it’s not news

    According to the 4th estate, women demand caesareans because they don’t want to suffer the pain of childbirth or they don’t want to get ‘loose down there’. This is not true at all. In all these years, I have had only one patient – a doctor who insisted on a cesarean, though to be fair to her, she had conceived with difficulty, her baby threatened to come out early and was growth restricted. She was anxious for the baby’s well-being. Most women want a ‘normal’ delivery and start crying as if they have failed in some way when we tell them we need to do a cesarean. A well done and properly stitched delivery does not make a woman lose perineal muscle tone. An abdominal surgery will always be more painful with longer recovery times than a vaginal birth.

    4] Magic potions

    With prostaglandins- a new group of drugs that make the cervix open up and oxytocin- a hormone that makes the uterus contract, deliveries can be timed and labour cut short by several hours. Added to these are excellent analgesia techniques that remove the pain and relax the muscles helping us to carry out deliveries with ease.

    5] Self-help

    Restricting supplements to essentials, controlling a woman’s sugar levels, helping her take an appropriate diet, avoiding excess weight gain, and encouraging her to exercise and be active also contribute to better vaginal birth rates. Preparing the breasts for lactation by massaging the nipples releases oxytocin and helps the baby’s head to enter the birth canal and the patient to deliver on time.

    6] The art of Obstetrics.

    We all have our egos. And take pride in doing a difficult job well. So delivering a baby vaginally is an art as well as a science that most of us are happy to practice-though not at the cost of the patient’s well being. This is just another reason why a doctor would prefer a vaginal delivery.

    To sum it up, most Gynaecologists or rather Obstetricians will try to give a woman a natural birth, but where needed, they will not be tardy in doing a cesarean. Trust your doctor to do his or her best. No doctor would like to give you treatment that’s worse than your disease. No patient is too posh to push and no doctor too lazy to pull.

    Consult At

    Rotunda CHR Wadala,

    Ground floor,
    Rotunda Nursing Home,
    Rd Number 19, near HDFC Bank,
    Wadala West, Wadala, Mumbai,
    Maharashtra 400031

    Monday to Friday – 11.30 am to 2.30 pm and 5.00 pm to 7.30 pm
    Saturday –11.30 pm - 5.00 pm

    +91 8282808012, +91 6262080828
    Landlines: 022 24123225



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