Hyderabad: The National Medical Commission Bill (NMC) has been referred to the Parliament standing committee for consideration after an eight-hour strike by doctors on Tuesday.
The Telangana Indian Medical Association stated that the Bill had been tabled the Lok Sabha with hardly any time to discuss.
Doctors are peeved at the bridge course offered to homeopathy and ayurveda doctors and waving the exams for those who have studied medicine abroad to practise in India.
Dr K.K. Aggarwal, former president of the IMA, said, “We have called off the strike as the Bill has been referred to the Parliamentary standing committee on health.”
Terming the Bill draconian, doctors said that they will be at the mercy of bureaucrats who will decide the future course of medicine once the Bill becomes an Act.
Dr Minhaz Nasirabadi, a senior IMA member, added, “The Bill had only five members of the medical fraternity. The disbanded Medical Council of India had 270 elected doctors. Decisions on medicine cannot be taken by non-medical professionals.”
The IMA stated that the Bill gives undue advantage for bureaucrats over doctors.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) declared closure of services for 12 hours on Tuesday.
