Indore: 3 Lakh medicos to go on strike if NMC bill not amended, warns IMA

Indore: National vice president of Indian Medical Association (IMA), Dr Rajendra Airen warned that more than three lakh members of IMA from across the country would go on strike if government did not amend the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill.

He warned about the intensive agitation here on Monday while addressing media at a conference held in Hotel Apsara. He said that it was not just a fight of doctors but a fight of people and for the people, as they will be left as guinea pigs at the hands of ineligible medical practitioners, once this Bill turned into an Act.“Once NMC Bill comes into being, it will damage the soul of health system in our country and private medical colleges and hospitals will rule the system according to their will,” Dr Airen rued.

Protesting against the bridge course proposed by the government to allow AYUSH practitioners to practice modern medicine, Dr Airen said “MBBS students pass 36 exams and dedicate many years of their life for becoming a doctor. Even after that they need to pass an exam to get the license for practicing but the government has been permitting AYUSH doctors to become equal to the MBBS doctors only with a six-month course.”

He suggested that “If the government literally wants to cope with the scarcity of doctors then they should remove the unnecessary exams for MBBS students.” State president of IMA, Dr Natwar Sharda said that the Bill will also promote corruption as there will be no provision of action against medical colleges and they can be released only by paying the fine. “Medical colleges can increase and decrease seats in medical colleges at will as no inspection would be done for five years. They can even arbitrarily increase their fees as well,” Dr Sharda said.