Dive Brief:
- After a Reuters article raised several questions about its future president, the organization that sets ethical standards for physicians worldwide may reconsider its decision.
- Last week, Reuters reported that despite that fact that he's still facing criminal charges in two Indian courts, the World Medical Association (WME) is standing behind its planned future president, Indian urologist Dr. Ketan Desai.
- Desai is scheduled to take office in 2016.
Dive Insight:
Desai was originally supposed to assume the role of WMA president in 2010, but his inauguration was suspended after he was arrested on allegations of conspiracy to accept a bribe from a medical college. The suspension was lifted in 2013 after the Indian Medical Association assured the WMA that all charges had been withdrawn.
Desai, a former president of the Indian Medical Association, was accused of the crimes while serving as president of the Medical Council of India, the organization that regulates India's medical schools. He stepped down following the allegations.
Shortly after Reuters published its story, the WMA issued this statement to Reuters. “We take this article very seriously. It raises a number of questions we have to discuss with the Indian Medical Association and that is what we shall now do.”