Doctors, residents, students of Rajindra Hospital protested against the National Medical Commission Bill
Gurjit Singh/ royalpatiala.in/ Patiala
On a nationwide call by Indian Medical Association, the national body of allopathic doctors in India, the private and government doctors in Patiala along with senior and junior residents and medical students of Government Medical College today organized a rally inside medical college campus to protest against the National Medical Commission Bill passed by the parliament yesterday.
The protest was jointly organized by Patiala chapter of Indian Medical Association and Punjab State Medical & Dental Teachers Association with participation of more than 300 doctors. The Private hospitals in the city remained closed along with suspension of OPD services and elective surgical procedures in Rajindra Hospital and teaching of the medical students of the medical college. However emergency casualty ICU and other related services remained functional normally.
The protesting leaders have described the bill as anti-poor, anti-social, anti-doctor and anti-medical students and the provision of bridge course in the bill will jeopardise the health system in the country by promoting quackery and the doctors have described it as cruel joke with more than three lakh allopathic doctors in the country. IMA has been fighting against the NMC Bill since 2016 and the bill has undergone just cosmetic changes.
The core concern of allopathic doctors has not been addressed. While the deleterious clauses have been retained, the Government has added section 32 legalizing quackery by empowering community health providers to practice medicine endangering the lives of the people. This is the single largest threat to the health of the nation.
