IMA upset over NMC Bill

Terms new Bill anti-people, pro-rich, against medical profession

With the proposed National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill likely to be tabled in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has said the Bill in its current form is pro-rich, anti-people and against the medical profession.

“There were so many recommendations and suggestions, but hardly 1% of them have been taken into consideration,” said Dr. Parthiv Sanghvi, Secretary of IMA, Maharashtra.

The Bill has been drafted to replace the existing Medical Council of India (MCI) Act that governed the MCI and make way for the new commission. Ever since the draft was made public, doctors have been up in arms against the government demanding changes. They plan to carry out a mass agitation if the Bill is passed in its current form.

‘Adverse consequences’

In a press release issued on Wednesday, the IMA said the NMC is an anti-poor, anti-people and anti-federal law, which if allowed to be passed, will have unforeseen consequences on the health sector and the country’s federal structure.

“Indian Medical Association rejects the National Medical Commission 2017

in toto , fulfilling its commitment to the health of our people, and resolves to fight this anti-people legislation by directly taking the issue to the people,” it said.

The Bill proposes that only 50% of seats in private medical schools and deemed universities be regulated. The majority of its members will be government-nominated. Also, there is a fear of rampant ‘crosspathy’ as the Bill may allow a short-cut course for alternate-medicine practitioners to practice allopathy.

The statement said, “On just the advent of the Bill, private medical colleges in States such as Uttarkhand and Maharashtra raised their fee to ₹25 lakh to ₹30 lakh per year for the MBBS course. Reservation of 50% of the seats to those who can pay is denial of equitable opportunities and hence it is anti-people.”