Nearly 12,000 doctors including around 8500 private doctors joined 24-hour nation-wide strike being observed to oppose the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill-2019 from 6 a.m. today. The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. The call for the strike has been given by the Indian Medical Association (IMA).
Bihar IMA secretary Dr Brajnandan Kumar said that doctors went on strike against the NMC bill as it had certain provisions which were against medical profession and health care of common people. He said under one of the provisions of the bill, NMC may grant limited license to practice medicine at mid-level as a community health provider to such person connected with modern scientific medical profession after undergoing six-month bridge course and qualifying other criteria as specified by the regulations. He said it was not less than government trying to encourage quackery in name of scarcity of doctors.
Dr Kumar said another provision of the bill was also detrimental to the interest of students willing to persue medical education. He said the bill would only create inconsistencies in the fee structure, with only 50 per cent seats coming under the purview of NMC’s fee authorisation leaving the other 50 per cent under private medical colleges making the structure unjust for students.
Dr Kumar said similarly under the bill, there was no provision for holding election to NMC as all posts would be filled through nominations, providing a chance to politicians and bureaucrats, not concerned with health related issues directly to dominate NMC.
(UNI)
