New Delhi/Mumbai: Denouncing that the National Medical Commission (NMC) bill in its present form is anti-poor, non-representative, undemocratic and anti-federal in character, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has called a day long strike on Tuesday.
"The NMC Bill in the present form is not acceptable. This Bill is anti-poor, anti-people, non-representative, undemocratic and anti-federal in character. The IMA headquarter hereby declares closure of all routine services for 12 hours from 6 AM to 6 PM tomorrow across the country," IMA national president Dr Ravi Wankhedkar said.
The IMA, which has about 2.77 lakh doctors as its members, is protesting against many clauses in the National Medical Commission (NMC) bill which was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Friday.
The government has proposed to replace the Medical Council of India (MCI) with the new bill.
Besides other provisions, the bill also seeks to allow practitioners of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy, to practice modern medicine once they complete a short term "bridge" course.
"The bill will "cripple" the functioning of medical professionals by making them completely answerable to the bureaucracy and non-medical administrators, has declared tomorrow a "Black Day", Dr. Wankhedkar said.
Echoing similar concerns, Dr Shivkumar Utture, President of Maharashtra Medical Council said, "The problems and the laws that apply to the bill will cause general patients to suffer. Moreover, the new bill will increase corruption. We have been discussing the National Medical Commission bill with the government since a year without any outcome."
According to the draft bill, the commission will have government nominated chairman and members, and the board members will be selected by a search committee under the Cabinet Secretary. There will five elected and 12 ex-officio members in the commission.
"Abolishing a democratic institution and replacing it with a body in which a majority is nominated by the government, is certainly a retrograde step," Dr K K Aggarwal, the former president of the IMA, said.
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