Guidelines on aesthetic surgeries to curb 'wrongdoing, quackery': Experts

New Delhi, Sep 28 (PTI) When a Jammu-based businessman underwent a hair transplant, he was worried that the dermatologist was directing his junior to perform the procedure instead of doing it himself.

"Although my procedure went well, I don't think anyone would want the junior staff to conduct the procedure whose qualification is not written outside the clinic.

"As with any medical procedure, this can also go very wrong," the businessman, who did not want to be identified, said.

However, with the National Medical Commission (NMC) issuing new guidelines on practitioners of aesthetic surgeries, industry stakeholders believe that such situations will be rare in the future.

Aesthetic procedures including hair transplants should be carried out only by registered medical professionals having adequate training, the NMC's guidelines said and underlined they should not be attempted by watching demonstrations in workshops or on YouTube.

According to the NMC's Guidelines on Aesthetic Surgery and Hair Transplant Procedures and a related advisory, such procedures should be done in facilities having adequate infrastructure and manpower to manage any issues and complications that can arise including basic life support and resuscitation measures.

The guidelines and advisory, issued on September 20, state that assistants or technicians should be from a medical background such as nurses, OT technicians and pharmacists and they should perform tasks only under the supervision of registered medical practitioners.

Sanket Shah, CEO and MD of Advanced Hair Studio, Indian subcontinent, Middle East and North Africa, said the guidelines are "going to correct a lot of wrong practices which are prevailing in India".

"A lot of players especially some technicians who worked with hair transplant doctors and learned how to perform the procedure started offering the treatment at much cheaper rates and started a one-two room clinic without having infrastructure. Without following safety protocols, they started performing these procedures.

"I believe these guidelines were required and I am happy that Indian Medical Council will check the licenses and the required medical background and keep an eye. Because our industry was actually not really on their radar, this is going to correct a lot of wrong practices which are prevailing in india," Shah told PTI.

According to the guidelines, hair transplant should preferably be undertaken only by those who have surgical grooming like formal surgical training such as MCh/DNB plastic surgery, MD/DNB Dermatology with adequate grooming in dermatological surgical procedures.

It is also noted that the above-named specialties have hair transplantation as a core topic in their curriculum.

The advisory to stakeholders informing them about harms of getting treatment from unqualified people stated that "ghost surgery" -- substitution of surgeons without the patient's knowledge and permission -- would also constitute malpractice and violation of any of the guidelines will be seen as a misconduct and offence.

It was due to an apprehension for the medical procedure that Delhi-based politician Vikram Mittal refrained from going for a hair transplant and chose a hair patch instead.

A hair patch is a restoration treatment in which artificial hair is placed with glue on the bald area.

"Some of my cousins have also got hair patches done. It's a lot cheaper and safer than any medical procedure. I was a bit cautious about it anyway," Mittal said.

Talking about the NMC guidelines, he said it should invoke confidence in people who want to get hair transplant done.

"There was reluctance among majority of people who were afraid to get it done but after the new guidelines, a patient will have more confidence on getting it done rather than looking for temporary alternatives like hair weaving/hair patches/wigs etc," he said.

Welcoming the guidelines, Dr Poorva Shah, consultant medical and dermatologist, said it was the first step towards "limiting the ongoing quackery".

"This is essentially coming up because quacks are offering their treatment at a lower cost and that is confusing our patients," the Pune-based doctor said.

She suggested that authorities should also take note that medical equipments are sold to people without proper background check, and come up with guidelines for that as well.

"Today, the equipments that are used for all these procedures are freely available. There are no guidelines as to who these equipments should be sold to whether it is laser machines, energy based devices and more," the doctor said.

Giving an example of machines used for sonography, Shah said to curb female foeticide and sex determination procedures, the government had introduced the "Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994.

"The sonography machines can only be sold to registered radiologists. There is a ton of paperwork involved. It is needed to be verified by company and doctor both. That has reduced quacks and sex determination to such an extent that it is almost abolished. "So the same strict guidelines should be applied here also to ensure that we are secure from both ends," she said. PTI MAH/MG MAH TDS TDS