31 July 2019; GANASHAKTI: Doctors across the country went on a 24-hour medical strike from 6 am on Wednesday, withdrawing all non-essential services. However, the emergency, casualty, intensive care unit (ICU) and related services will function normally. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has called for the strike in protestagainst the passage of National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill, 2019, in the Lok Sabha.
Public demonstrations against the Bill will take place across the country. Few doctors are also likely to go on hunger strikes, said the IMA.
“The Lok Sabha has approved and passed the draconian NMC Bill yesterday. The democratic lower house has dumped healthcare and medical education of this country into darkness by approving the undemocratic National Medical Commission Bill 2019. IMA HQ calls for 24 hours withdrawal of non essential services on Wednesday 31.07.2019 in protest,” the association said on its website.
“The emergency Action Committee reviewed the situation yesterday night. It has been decided to call for 24 hours withdrawal of non essential services across the nation by modern medicine doctors from 6 am on Wednesday, 31.07.2019 till 6 am the next day ie. Thursday, 01.08.2019,” it added.
IMA National President and Rajya Sabha MP Dr Santanu Sen tweeted, “IMA rejects the NMC Bill in toto and calls for 24 hours withdrawals of non essential services on Wednesday 31-07-19, as protest against the passage of NMC Bill.”
The Lok Sabha passed the NMC Bill on Monday. It seeks to create the National Medical Commission (NMC) in place of the Medical Council of India (MCI). The Bill was passed with 260 members voting in its favour and 48 against it. It also proposes a common final-year MBBS examination, known as National Exit Test (NEXT), for admission to post-graduate medical courses and for obtaining a licence to practice medicine. Besides this, the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), common counselling and NEXT would be applicable to institutes of national importance like AIIMS in order to achieve a common standard in medical education in the country.
Doctors claim that the Bill will give a boost to quacks and intensify quackery and unverified practitioners in the rural areas.
Calling for a complete rejection of the NMC Bill 2019, the IMA said, “Section 32 of the NMC Bill provides for licensing of 3.5 lakhs unqualified non medical persons to practise modern medicine. The term Community Health Provider has been vaguely defined to allow anyone connected with modern medicine to get registered in NMC and be licensed to practise modern medicine. This means persons without medical background are becoming eligible to practise modern medicine and prescribe independently. This law legalises quackery."
“This provision and the other controversial provisions can never be accepted by the medical fraternity of the country. The mess created by the Bill regarding the examinations affecting the career of generations of medical students can not be condoned. The numerous other inconsistencies in the Bill will seriously affect the Health of the nation,” it added.
“The struggle to redeem the Health of the nation is our privilege and sacred duty. We will never allow licensing unqualified non medical persons to kill our patients. We will never allow our mothers and children to die in thousands forever due to this Black Law,” said the IMA.
Doctors from Punjab, Haryana join nationwide strike
Chandigarh, July 31 : Medical services were affected in Punjab and Haryana on Wednesday after doctors of state-run hospitals joined a day-long strike called by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to protest against the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill, 2019.
The impact of the strike was seen more in rural areas of both the states. In urban areas, private doctors too joined the strike.
Medical services in the out-patient departments (OPDs) were severely affected due to the strike.
Patients and their attendants said they were made to suffer due to government's failure to resolve the issue amicably.
"Only the common man suffers because of the strike," Ajaib Singh, a resident of Bathinda town in Punjab who brought his father for treatment here, said.
Medical services were also badly hit in Chandigarh's Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) which caters to patients from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Chandigarh.
OPD services affected in West Bengal state-run hospitals
Kolkata, Jul 31 : The Outdoor Patient Departments in most state-run hospitals in West Bengal were affected on Wednesday after doctors stayed away from providing non- essential services, in response to an IMA call.
However, emergency services and other departments remained operational.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has called for a 24-hour withdrawal of non-essential services across the country on Wednesday to protest against the National Medical Commission Bill which was passed in the Lok Sabha on July 29.
Doctors in OPDs across state-run hospitals in Kolkata, Murshidabad and Hooghly reportedly stayed off their duties, even as patients waited in serpentine queues for treatment.
The bill provides for setting up of a National Medical Commission in place of the Medical Council of India (MCI) for development and regulation of all aspects of medical education, profession and institutions.
The medical fraternity is anguished that the health minister, a surgeon, instead of including key recommendations made by the Parliament Standing Committee, replaced many provisions with clauses detrimental to the doctors' community.
The fraternity claims that the bill will encourage quackery.
The IMA termed the bill as 'anti-poor, anti-student and undemocratic'.
