NMC Bill will downgrade medical education: Indian Medical Association

Hyderabad: The discrepancies in the National Medical Council Act have placed doctors of modern medicine on the edge as they find that a range of issues, right from the medical curriculum to the right to prescription have been objectionably placed in the National Medical Commission Act that was passed by Parliament last week. In a meeting in the city to discuss the finer points of the legislation, the Telangana Indian Medical Association pointed out the contradictions.

While the final MBBS exam will be decided by the NMC, the exams from the first to the fourth years will be with the University Grants Commission and state universities. The curriculum of modern medicine will be decided by homoeopathy and Ayurveda doctors, which is going to be an extremely difficult task. Dr Yadagiri Rao, former state IMA president, explained, “The bill is filled with contradictions. There are too many discrepancies in the bill and all the systems are being integrated without realizing that each has its own identity, belief and style of practice. Modern medicine has been based purely on evidence and the process of thinking to be integrated with other systems will not only lead to a clash of the basics but also the fundamental way in which diseases are to be understood, learnt, diagnosed and treated.”

The doctors who had a three-hour session to understand the fine print, state that their objection to the prescription by community health workers is based on the fundamental problem that a health worker who may be a nurse, a paramedical or even a pharmacist will be given that right and the consequences of adverse effects will have to be faced by qualified doctors.

When the cases get complicated or there are emergencies, it will be the modern medicine doctors who will treat and they will face the backlash from people, opined the IMA doctors.

Dr Ved Prakash Misra, senior member of IMA, explained, “The legalisation of quackery by calling them community health workers and subsequently as registered medical personnel, is only for the public health schemes. This will give a boost to the pharmaceutical industry where sales will go up.” The doctors state that the misuse of medicines and also the adverse effects of medicines in India will see a rise. The aspect of patient safety is not a part of the bill and it will be the onus of the patients to seek out the right qualified doctors.

Dr Mohammed Javed Iqbal explained, “The NMC bill will now require patients to be aware whether they are being treated by a doctor who has learnt homeopathy, Ayurveda or modern medicine. They will have to choose the right doctor for their treatment and that means that they must be aware right from the grassroots level.”