IMA threat over panel’s report on National Medical Commission Bill

NEW DELHI: Dubbing the parliamentary standing committee’s report on the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill as “worse than the Bill itself”, the Indian Medical Association has threatened to go on the “warpath” if the contentious clauses are not removed from the proposed legislation.

The IMA, the largest body of private doctors in the country, has said that the government should remove the provision to allow AYUSH doctors to practise modern medicine after pursuing a “Bridge Course”—failing which medical practitioners across the country will hit the streets.

“The committee has recommended that the proposed licentiate test for MBBS doctors should not be mandatory and the final year MBBS examination should double up as exit test—but what they have proposed for the Bridge Course is even worse,” said IMA president Ravi Wankhedkar.The committee, in its report recently, has said that states should be left to decide whether to allow Bridge Course, but even nurses and pharmacists, in addition to AYUSH doctors, can practice modern medicine after the short-term course, in order to fill the shortage of doctors in rural areas.

The panel, which had been referred the Bill, after protests from various quarters, has also suggested that number of elected representative be increased from five to nine.“This is a ridiculous proposal and we will not accept these cosmetic changes as they do not address the major issues we have with the Bill,” Wankhedkar said.

The association has hinted that a long—even indefinite —strike can be called if the Bill, that seeks to replace the medical education regulator Medical Council of India with a largely nominated central body, is not altered.In the NMC Bill, senior IMA functionaries pointed out, provisions to open new medical colleges are ambiguous.

“Recommendation to increase the regulation of fee in private medical colleges from 40 to 50 per cent does not make a material difference. However lack of clarity on implementation may jeopardise the decision itself,” said a statement released by the association.A new issue that has been created by the PSC is the recommendation to have the Ethics and Medical Registration Board headed by a retired judge which is unacceptable to  IMA.