Doctors of government and private hospitals, private practitioners, and diagnostic centres participated in the all-India medical bandh on Monday in response to a call was given by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to protest against the proposed policies of the Central Government which, the association said, would cause harm than benefit to the medical profession and the people.
Human chain
Doctors marched in a procession to Jagadamba Junction where they formed a human chain and later went to the Collectorate and submitted a memorandum to the Collector.
IMA vice-president L.V. Raghava Rao, president of district unit Kalyan Prasad, secretary P.A. Ramani and others participated.
Only emergency cases were attended to at the King George Hospital and other government hospitals.
The private nursing homes and hospitals too took up emergency cases only.
The IMA was protesting against the Centre’s move to dilute the Medical Council of India which looks after medical education in the country and introduce a commission that would look after medicine, pharmacy, nursing, and the allied branches.
Introduction of Clinical Establishment Act would make medical care more expensive and going ahead with a new three-and-a-half years Bachelor of Rural Health Care, which only provides inadequate training to the students and shows discrimination towards rural folk, were some of the policies of the government the IMA was fighting against.
Members of the IMA, Andhra Pradesh Nursing Homes’ Association, Government Doctors’ Association, Physiotherapists’ Association, Medical Representatives Association and Prajarogya Parirakshana Samiti participated in the strike.
