Not disclosing the names of doctors in the surgical team may amount to deficiency of service.

In a judgement, the Kerala State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission presiding members M.K. Abdulla Sona and A. Radha directed the Travancore-Cochin Medical Councils-Kerala (TCMC-K) to instruct all doctors to display their medical council registration numbers on their signboards and quote the register numbers in all prescriptions and all case sheets. The commission stated that mentioning the registration number in the doctors’ prescriptions, case-sheets and signboards would enable patients to get all information about the doctor, including their competency and if they had the required qualifications. The commission said that the patient/consumer has the right to know the details of each doctor who accompanied the leader of the surgical team, including the anesthesiologist. Any denial of this would be considered a deficiency of service and an unfair trade practice under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act.