Awareness on Consumer Protection Act-1986 (COPRA) among medical professionals of a medical college from Telangana State

• Author Details:   
• G. Anjaneyulu
• M. Vijay Kumar
• Karnapu Naga Ramya
• G. Nandini

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Introduction: Medicine is a noble profession where the relationship between the doctor and patient is based on trust and confidence but, nowadays there is growing anxiety and fear in both the medical profession and the community, resulting in an increasing trend of complaints and lawsuits against doctors and also increased incidences of public violence on doctors in our country.
Materials and Method: An institutional based cross sectional study was conducted among 90 professionals of whom 30 belong to interns, 30 post graduates (PG’s) and 30 are faculty. A self administered close ended questionnaires proforma, having 28 questions related to the various aspects of consumer protection act 1986 having options in YES or NO type form was used.
Results: Majority of them (81.1%) have heard about COPRA act. Mean awareness score regarding consumer protection act (COPRA) among the total study population was 15.844±3.04. Among the total 90 respondents, 10 % (n=9) had experienced a situation where negligence has resulted in damage to patient. About one third (n=31) have heard about indemnity insurance and among them 32% (n=10) have insured themselves.
Conclusion: The awareness and knowledge level among the doctors in the present study was found to be very low, though the enactment of the COPRA Act 1986 was three decades old. Hence it is suggested to organize intensive regular CME’s and orientation programs to improve the knowledge. This actually will help in long term the medical fraternity to develop and sustain confidence and mutual trust with the clients and thus create a healthy medical practice.

Keywords: Consumer Protection Act-1986 (COPRA), Negligence, Awareness, Institutional based, Indemnity insurance