The protest organized under the banner of Indian Medical Association (IMA) over National Medical Commission (NMC) bill received mixed response here in the State Capital. According to IMA Secretary, Jharkhand Chapter, Dr. Pradip Kumar Singh, doctors serving both at Government hospitals and private hospitals supported the move.
“The protest was successful in bringing the attention of public towards one of the important issues. The protest was in public interest. Our aim was to engage most number of doctors in this, while we have ensured that emergency services remained functional at all places.
We received the support of the doctors from across the State,” said Singh.
All Out-Patient Departments (OPDs) and other emergency services remained functional in the Capital City hospitals. From Sadar Hospital to Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) to private clinics, the emergency services and OPDs remained operational where doctors attended the patients like any other normal days.
Though the number of patients on Tuesday at several hospitals and clinics remained low in comparison other days but whosoever approached the doctors at OPDs were attended.
“Considering the protest, the hospital administration instructed the doctors to deliver their duty like any other normal days. Here at RIMS, we did not face any trouble due to the protest.
Doctors attended the patients while emergency services also remained unaffected here,” said, Director, RIMS, Dr. RK Srivastava.
Similarly, Civil Surgeon, Ranchi, Shivshankar Harijan too termed the protest a successful one. “The protest was organized peacefully as per the instructions. All patients were attended.
Doctors here were present in sufficient numbers to attend the patients.”
The IMA headquarter recently declared closure of all routine services for 12 hours from 6 AM to 6 PM across the country as a mark of protest over the new NMC bill that was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 29.
According to the provisions in the bill, it will allow the practitioners of alternate medicines (Homeopathy and Ayurvedic) to practice allopathy (modern medicines) after completing a short term course.
Most of the doctors here opined that this will not just put patients’ life at stake but will also create confusion among the medical fraternity. “Allowing practitioners of alternate medicines to take up modern medicines practice is an insane decision.
We are completely against this. This will have severe consequences and will eventually affect the medical practices nationwide,” added, Dr. Singh.