NMC Bill is slated to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
Doctors at government hospitals in Delhi, including AIIMS, Safdarjung and RML, have threatened to go on an indefinite strike to protest against the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill which is slated to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
The bill, which seeks to replace the graft-tainted Medical Council of India (MCI), was passed by the Lok Sabha on July 29 and doctors across the country were on strike on Wednesday to protest it.
While Wednesday's protest spared emergency, casualty, ICU and related services, doctors have now threatened withdrawal of services at emergency departments.
Why doctors are up in arms?
The Bill's Section 32 — which allows anyone connected with modern medicine to be registered in the National Medical Commission (NMC) and be licensed to practise modern medicine — is the main bone of contention.
Further, the section instantly allows for licensing of more than three and a half lakh unqualified non-medical persons to practise medicine and contains provisions to add more such persons each year. IMA fears that thus all paramedics, including pharmacists, nurses, physiotherapists, optometrists and others, will become eligible to practise medicine and prescribe medicines independently.
Importantly, there is no cap on the years of experience a paramedic would need to be licensed to practise medicine using this route.
"Most of the 25 NMC members will be nominated, and not elected as they are now," said IMA Maharashtra Secretary Dr Suhas Pingle, "The State Medical Council can approach NMC only through the Medical Advisory Council. Assigning direct 'Community Health Providers' is nothing but the promotion of quackery."
He further pointed out that as per Section 14 of the Bill, an oral examination will be conducted at different centres as part of the National Exit Test, which will not create a level playing field as is done by a national written test.
Further, Section 51 aims to strengthen the health delivery system in rural areas. ''However, the state is authorised to increase the number of doctors, and there is every danger that it will promote quackery (by assigning paramedics as medical practitioners),'' he said.
However, Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said the Bill is one of the biggest reforms in the country that will end 'inspector raj' in the medical education sector. It has a provision for setting uniform national standards in medical education by proposing that the final year MBBS exam be treated as an entrance test for post-graduate courses and that medical graduates from foreign countries undergo a screening test.
Protest to continue on Thursday
"Resident doctors will refrain from working in the OPDs, emergency departments and ICUs as a mark of protest on Thursday and the strike will continue for an indefinite period if the bill is tabled and passed in the Rajya Sabha," Dr Sumedh Sandanshiv, president, Federation of Resident Doctors' Association (FORDA).
Sandanshiv alleged that the bill was "anti-poor, anti-student and undemocratic".
The Resident Doctors' Associations (RDA) of several government hospitals in Delhi, including AIIMS and RML, have given separate notices to the administration regarding the proposed strike on Thursday.
(With inputs from Sanjay Jog)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Thane:")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}