The Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons of India has moved the Bombay High Court with an intervention application in a PIL seeking action against its members who are dentists for performing cosmetic and hair transplant surgeries despite not being “qualified”.
In an interim application filed on December 5 through advocates Hare Krishna Mishra and Arun D Mishra, the association claimed to be an essential party in the PIL filed by Dynamic Dermatologists and Hair Transplant Association.
The applicant said that the current PIL has been filed “without thorough investigation and with the ulterior motive of barring oral and maxillofacial surgeons from entering the field of hair transplantation”. In the petition, the association has been requested to be heard as a respondent in the public interest litigation.
The interviewer added that the PIL made unsubstantiated claims as the courses and curriculum of oral and maxillofacial surgeons include surgeries that are “more difficult, difficult, complex, complex, complex, laborious than hair transplants which are only superficial. All the work is done only on the scalp.
The PIL has challenged the guidelines issued by the Dental Council of India (DCI) on December 6, 2022 allowing oral and maxillofacial surgeons to practice cosmetic and hair transplant surgery. The PIL claimed that oral and maxillofacial surgeons are merely dentists who do not study hair transplantation and are not trained to perform such surgeries.
It sought to quash guidelines and action against “unqualified” practitioners involved in cosmetic and hair transplant surgery.
The HC is likely to hear the application along with the PIL on December 11