Protest against NMC Bill: IMA doctors end stir after nine hours

Healthcare facilities at multiple hospitals across the country came to a standstill on Tuesday. (PTI photo)

Doctors attached to the Indian Medical Association (IMA) called off a nation-wide token protest nine hours after it started Tuesday. The decision came after Union Health Minister J P Nadda referred the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill to a parliamentary standing committee. The committee has to submit its report before the budget session this year.

The IMA had urged its 40,000 members in the state to keep routine out-patient services shut from 6 am till 6 pm Tuesday to observe ‘Black Day’ against the NMC Bill. The major resistance, the protesting doctors said, was to the Bill’s provision allowing Ayurvedic and homeopathic doctors to practise allopathy after a year-long bridge course. The Bill seeks to replace the Medical Council of India with a regulatory body to control medical education and allopathic practice.

“After it was announced that the Bill would be reviewed by a parliamentary committee, we decided to end the protest at 3 pm,” said IMA state secretary Dr Parthiv Sanghvi.

Maharashtra has 80,000 registered allopathic doctors, of which 50 per cent are IMA members. While not everyone participated in the strike, including government, charitable and corporate hospitals, several individual doctors supported the protest and kept their clinics shut. According to IMA estimates, a few thousands joined the protest across the state.

“Our association has not supported the strike,” said Dr P M Bhujang of the Association of Hospitals.
For doctors, the major contention was the proposal to make it mandatory for medical students to give an exit exam before being awarded the MBBS degree even as Ayurveda or homoeopathy students could appear for bridge course without appearing for this exam. “There have been past judgments by the Supreme Court against allowing homoeopaths to practise allopathy. The government is still introducing a Bill doing exactly that,” Sanghvi said.

Dr Jayesh Lele, former Maharashtra IMA president and currently member of the Maharashtra Medical Council, said corruption in medical colleges would increase if the new Bill was introduced. “It allows government to regulate 40 per cent of the medical seats and gives private hospitals the remaining seats to regulate,” he said.