ORS labelling: Medical bodies condemn notice to hyderabad-based paediatrician

HYDERABAD: Several medical bodies and associations on Tuesday came out in support of the city-based paediatrici-an Dr Sivaranjani Santosh, condemning the legal notice issued to her by pharma com-panies over her public health advocacy on ORS labelling reforms. The organisations termed the move an at-tempt to silence evi-dence-based medical opinion and called for the im-mediate withdrawal of the notice. They collectively war ned that if the legal notice is not withdrawn promptly, the association, in coordination with other medical bodies, would consider collective ac-tion to safeguard the profes-sional autonomy of doctors. The Federation of All In dia Medical Association (FA-IMA) said that Dr Santosh's concerns about certain pro-ducts being positioned alongside Oral Rehydration Solutions (ORS) stem from patient safety and public he-alth considerations. The as-sociation stated that raising such concerns falls well wit-hin a doctor's professional and ethical responsibilities, especially when the issue in-volves the health and safety of children. The Telangana Se-(T-nior Resident Doctors Association SRDA) said the notice represents an "at-tempt to intimidate" a medi-cal professional advocating for rational medical practice and patient welfare. The Te-langana Junior Doctors As-sociation added that no doc-tor should be threatened for protecting patients. The Healthcare Reforms Doctors Association (HRDA) described the legal notice as an apparent attempt to inti-midate a doctor working in the interest of child health and public safety.