Members of Tamil Nadu Medical Students Association of K.A.P.Viswanatham Government Medical College organised a protest against the controversial National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill which was passed at the Lok Sabha recently.
The NMC Bill seeks to establish a new regulatory structure for medicine, quashing the Medical Council of India (MCI) and nominating non-medical members to the Commission, among other provisions.
Over 100 students of the college, attached to Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital, staged a demonstration with their face covered with black masks.
Doctors of the Indian Medical Association, Tiruchi chapter, suspended routine outpatient services until 6 a.m. on Thursday. “The IMA believes that the NMC is anti-democratic as unlike the MCI, the government will nominate members, majority of whom will be bureaucrats. Further, the bridge courses, mentioned in Section 32 of the NMC bill, will promote quackery and cause a lack of accountability amongst doctors, especially in primary health centres, which are crucial when it comes to medical attention,” said M. S. Ashraf, former national vice-president of IMA.
The NMC had also introduced a national exit test (NEXT) to serve as a “licentiate exam” for entrance to postgraduate medical courses and a screening test for foreign medical graduates. This would mean that practising MBBS doctors must prepare and pass this examination or they would be considered useless, said Dr. Ashraf.
R. Guna Sekaran, vice-president, IMA-Tiruchi, said that the immediate call for protest was done as the NMC was to be introduced in the Rajya Sabha this week.
Members of IMA’s Pudukkottai chapter staged a demonstration outside their office. “The Bill says that 50% of the medical seats will be reserved for management quota, the price of which will be determined by the government,” said K. H. Saleem, secretary, IMA-Pudukkottai.
