Doctors on strike against the NMC Bill nation-wide: Healthcare services at many private hospitals in the country are likely to be hit on Tuesday as the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has called for suspending routine services for 12 hours. The move has come as a response to protest a Bill seeking to replace the Medical Council of India (MCI) with a new body.
Outpatient departments (OPDs) of many private hospitals will be hit however emergency and critical services will remain open.
Doctors on strike as tuesday has been declared as a Black Day by IMA after strongly opposing the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill saying that it will "cripple" the functioning of medical professionals by making them completely answerable to the bureaucracy and non-medical administrators.
"In its present form, the NMC Bill is not acceptable. It is anti-poor, anti-people, non-representative, undemocratic, and anti-federal in character. The IMA headquarters, hereby, declares closure of all routine services for 12 hours from 6 am to 6 pm on Tuesday across the country," newly-appointed IMA national president Dr Ravi Wankhedkar said.
A letter has been written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Heath Minister J P Nadda from former IMA president Dr K K Aggarwal, urging them to redraft the Bill and rectify some of its provisions, to protect the interest of medical practitioners.
The NMC Bill, which was tabled in the Parliament on Friday, seeks to replace the MCI and also proposes allowing practitioners of alternative medicines, such as homoeopathy and ayurveda.
-PTC News
