Around 3 lakh doctors have come onto the streets to demonstrate against the NMC bill.The IMA has labelled the Bill as anti-poor and anti-people, and said it makes the system prone to corruption.
NEW DELHI: The doctors began their 12-hour long strike at 6 am today. The doctors contend that the decision to replace the Medical Council of India with a new body will “cripple” the industry.
Union Health Minister JP Nadda, on the other hand, maintained that the provision will “benefit the medical profession.” He also added that talks were on with the Indian Medical Association to dissolve the issue. “We have heard them and also presented our views.”
According to the IMA, the NMC will “cripple” the functioning of the medical profession by making it completely answerable to the bureaucracy and non-medical administrators.
The National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill, which was tabled in Parliament on Friday, proposes to allow practitioners of alternative medicines, such as homoeopathy and ayurveda, practise allopathy after completing a “bridge course”. The Bill is also scheduled for consideration in Lok Sabha today.
Clause 49 of the Bill calls for a joint sitting of the National Medical Commission, the Central Council of Homoeopathy and the Central Council of Indian Medicine at least once a year “to enhance the interface between homoeopathy, Indian Systems of Medicine and modern systems of medicine”
Union Minister Ananth Kumar says the Medical Commission Bill has been sent to a standing committee, report to be submitted before Budget session.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, “The bill has many problematic provisions”, and demanded that the bill be referred to a parliamentary standing committee.
IMA president Dr K K Agarwal appealed to the Prime Minister to revise the draft bill in the larger interest of the medical profession. “Regulators need to have an autonomy and be independent of the administrators. The National Medical Commission will be a regulator appointed by the administrators under their direct control,” Agarwal said.
The NMC bill proposes replacing the Medical Council of India with a new body and “possibly” section 15 of the IMC Act, which says that the basic qualification to practise modern medicine is MBBS, Dr Aggarwal said.
Dr.Wankhedkar had said, “The Bill purported to eradicate corruption is designed to open the floodgates of corruption. A Bill to regulate the medical education and medical practice without the concurrence of the medical profession will be a disaster.”
The doctors have termed it as ‘black day’. Parthiv Sanghvi of Indian Medical Association said, “The central government has left us no option but to call it a ‘black day’ in the history of medical profession.
The Bill also allows private medical colleges to decide the fee for 60% of their seats, which will increase the cost of medical education.”
