Maharashtra: Doctors’ Bodies Warn Of Indefinite Emergency Services Shutdown
The associations have objected both to the CCMP course and to what it calls ‘dual medical council registration': Reports
MUMBAI: Medical associations across Maharashtra, including the IMA, MARD, ASMI, and the Super Specialist State Association, threatened on Wednesday to shut down emergency services indefinitely from Thursday, August 6, over the state’s move to register homeopathy practitioners (BHMS-CCMP). Their core demand is immediate suspension of the Bachelor of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery and Certificate Course in Modern Pharmacology (BHMS–CCMP) registration process.
The controversy has erupted after the state’s decision to allow CCMP-qualified BHMS doctors to register with the Maharashtra Medical Council. The associations have objected both to the CCMP course and to what it calls ‘dual medical council registration.’
They have opposed granting of Maharashtra Medical Council registration to alternate medicine practitioners after short pharmacology courses arguing that the policy compromises medical standards.
In a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday, IMA Headquarters termed the government’s August 3 Government Resolution (GR) ‘illegal’ and urged its immediate cancellation, arguing that it undermines medical education, violates established legal principles and poses a risk to public health.
The CCMP course has not been approved by the erstwhile Medical Council of India (MCI), the National Medical Commission (NMC) or the National Commission for Homoeopathy (NCH). Such a course cannot be considered valid and should be discontinued immediately,” the association said in its representation.
The doctors’ body also argued that allowing practitioners to hold registrations under two different medical councils is unprecedented in India and could mislead patients regarding a doctor’s qualifications and scope of practice.
The resident doctors launched an indefinite protest from midnight on August 5 against allowing homoeopaths to register with the MMC and prescribe allopathic medicines, impacting OPD services in state and BMC-run hospitals.
