Nagged by serious doubts about the quality of medical care, patients and their relatives usually face a wall of resistance from hospital authorities who are extremely reluctant to disclose their medical records. Often enough, the trail of suspicion in cases of suspected medical negligence therefore finds a quiet burial in the hospital bed.

Moved by such a predicament, petitioner Raghunath G Raheja has urged the court to direct the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) to publicise a landmark judgement of the same court in 1996 which made it mandatory for doctors and hospitals to provide copies of medical records to patients and their relatives on demand.

The court had ordered the MMC to apprise all hospitals and doctors in Maharashtra of this judgment while also rulingthat the hospitals and doctors may be justified in demanding necessary charges for supplying copies of such documents.

The petitioner claims the MMC has failed to comply with the court's directions and that contempt proceedings be initiated against it. In his petition, Raheja states: ``The respondents (MMC) are guilty of contempt of court in as much as they have wilfully disobeyed the order of the honorable court and ought to be punished with imprisonment and fine.''

The 1996 order was passed in response to a petition filed by Raheja against the MMC, the State of Maharashtra and doctors D B Pahilajani, Sharad Panday and N N Shah and Medical Superintendent Dr Balobhai Nanavati Hospital. The order was passed by a division bench comprising the Chief Justice, M B Shah and Justice A V Savant on January 11, 1996.

The petition had challenged a resolution passed by the MMC exonerating Dr Pahilajani and Dr Panday of the charge of negligence while attending to Raheja's late wife Bhagwati. Though the charge ofnegligence was dismissed by the court, it had ruled that ``hospitals and doctors cannot claim any secrecy or confidentiality in the matter of copies of the case papers relating to the patient.

``When a patient or his near relative demands from the hospital or doctor, the copies of the case papers, it is necessary for the hospital authorities and the doctors concerned to furnish copies of such case papers to the patient or his near relative. It would be necessary for the Medical Council to ensure that necessary directions are given to all hospitals and the doctors calling them to furnish the copies of the case papers and all the relevant documents pertaining to the patient concerned'' the judgement had stated.

The present petition was filed after Raheja met the MMC registrar Karekar in March 1998. Raheja alleges that Karekar had catagorically told him that the circulars have not been sent to hospitals and doctors. He also allegedly said that certain press notes were dispatched to newspapers but thepetitioner was neither shown these notes nor does he (Karekar) admit that such press notes were issued in the newspapers, the petition states.