IMA holds protest, burns copies of Clinical Establishment Act

Ludhiana: A meeting of the local branch of Indian Medical Association was held at IMA house to tear and burn the copies of the Clinical Establishment Act (CEA) as a part of the ongoing protest against this Act, which the government says will be applicable on medical establishments from July 1. It gave a memorandum to additional deputy commissioner and will observe a complete medical bandh on June 23.
Dr Sunil Katyal, president of the IMA, Ludhiana chapter, said, “The Act was completely uncalled for and wrongly timed. Doctors are already governed by the Punjab Medical Council (PMC), National Medical Council (NMC/MCI), hospital buildings are governed by building regulation and norms and many hospitals are getting accredited to the NABH. The introduction of this Act will achieve nothing extra, except for the harassment of doctors.”
Dr Dheeraj Aggarwal, honorary secretary, IMA, Ludhiana, said, “This act is totally against people, patients, poor people and doctors. It will lead to increase in the hospital charges and treatment costs. The private healthcare delivery in Punjab is already of high quality as witnessed by the fact that more than 70% of patients seek treatment from private setups than from government hospitals. The states where it has been implemented does not show any improvement in healthcare delivery.”
Dr Manoj K Sobti, co-chairman, joint action committee, Punjab State Governing Council, said “We are opposing this Act completely. If no one listens to our demand, then a Punjab State Governing Council meeting will be held on June 28 to decide the further course of action.”