Protesting the introduction of the National Medical Council Bill, 2017, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has called for a nationwide strike of outpatient departments of hospitals on July 28.
“Emergency rooms, inpatient wards and other facilities will still be functioning,” said IMA Secretary, Karnataka, Dr B Veeranna to TNM. “We are in full support of the strike.”
The announcement comes in view of protest against the National Medical Commission Bill 2017, which many members of the IMA view as ‘anti-democratic and anti-poor.’
"IMA, fully conscious of its responsibility towards the generations of doctors to come, is withdrawing non-emergency medical services across the country on Saturday, July 28, 2018, from 6 am to 6 pm," read a press release issued by IMA.
Dr Veeranna further added that introduction of the NMC, when the Medical Council of India (MCI) was in place was redundant and did not take into consideration the best interests of the general public. “The NMC is not people or profession friendly, it favours a private college system and more exams will certainly be brought into place,” he added.
The NMC would replace the 83-year-old Medical Council of India (MCI) and would allegedly interfere with the medical education system.
IMA National President Dr Ravi Wankhedkar was outspoken about the NMC Bill and said that the government is attempting to take control over how the medical profession is run and completely dismissed the idea of the same.
The press release further stated that, “The Bill has a draconian character which will cause irreparable damage to the interests of all the stakeholders and would reduce down regulatory mechanism to a puppetry with its strings attached to the government.”
While outpatient clinics will be shut down for the full 12 hours, emergency services will still be available.
(With IANS inputs)