If necessary amendments in NMC Bill are not made
Pune: Members of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) from the State as well as the nation have warned that doctors might go on an aggressive protest if the necessary amendments in the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill are not made.
The Bill was presented in Lok Sabha on Monday. The IMA members were invited by the government for discussion. IMA officials hinted that if this bill is forced upon them by the government then the entire medical fraternity of the country will observe ‘Allopathy Mukta Bharat’ by withdrawing their services.
The government should expect mass agitation across the country with immediate effect. The onus of the agitation lies with the government.
Dr Parthiv Sanghvi, State Secretary for IMA said though the government has addressed some of the issues partially, the major objections are still valid.
“The crux of the concern of IMA as well the nation is the issue of ‘crosspathy’. Though the bridge course has been deemed to be not mandatory, there are reasons to believe the government is enabling a backdoor entry through the states,” said Sanghvi.
“If there remain provisions to empower Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) or even non-doctors to practise modern medicine through state mechanisms, it will be firmly resisted by IMA and the medical fraternity,” added Sanghvi.
He said the greater public concern is the percentage of medical seats that is going to be left with the private management.
Dr YS Deshpande, State President of the IMA, said that in many states the fee of 85 per cent of the medical seats is fixed by the respective state governments.
“NMC will increase the quota of the private colleges from 15 per cent to 50 per cent. It is a dichotomy that on one hand the government speaks of doctors from rural areas and on the other hand, the same government provides increased quota for the urban rich. NMC Bill will push the medical education away from the reach of deserving common people. It is the lower socioeconomic class which will be the loser. This anti-poor pro-rich slant of NMC should be corrected,” said Dr Deshpande.
