Govt doctors demand withdrawal of NMC bill

Chennai: Several doctors association in the state along with government medical college students staged statewide demonstration demanding 50 percent reservation for government doctors in PG medical admissions on Thursday evning. Medicos staged the protest at Chennai Beach Railway station, asking for a complete withdrawal of the National Medical Commission (NMC) that was reviewed by the parliamentary committee last month.

Various medical associations, including Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD), Tamil Nadu Medical Students Association (TNMSA), Government All Doctors' Association (GADA) and Doctors Association of Social Equality (DASE) came together to present various grievances against the NMC bill.

Doctors protested against the non-implementation of all India quota providing 27 percent reservation for SC/ ST and OBC medical college students in PG medical seats. The medicos had earlier demanded a provision of 50 percent reservation for government doctors in PG and super speciality medical courses, after the apex court and the Medical Council of India denied the proposal for the same.
“Postgraduate students should be given an equivalent pay as to the postgraduate students of central medical institutes and want a complete withdrawal of NMC bill and the recommendations of the parliamentary committee on the bill. The bill would affect the quality of medical education in the state, thus, we want the government to withdraw it,” said Dr G Rabindranath, secretary, Doctors’ Association for Social Equality.

The bill proposes a National Licentiate Examination (NLE), a common entrance exam to be taken by all medical graduates to get practicing licenses. Dr S Gurushankar, president AHPI's TN chapter had earlier said that imposition of another National Licentiate Examination on medical students after the successful completion of MBBS examination should not be done. However, those aspiring to do PG courses can be made to appear for a common PG entrance exam, he said.

Doctors allege that the government is trying to promote practitioners of alternative medicine like homoeopathy, Ayush, Unani and others under NMC, which are basically unapproved treatments.

Opposing the provision to allow medical practitioners of Indian medicine to practice allopathic medicine following a bridge course in NMC, Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association State Headquarters secretary, Dr P Balakrishnan said that the bridge courses should not be allowed.

“The standard treatment protocols of modern medicine are different from traditional systems of medicine, therefore, mixing up these two disparate systems through bridge courses will be wholly inappropriate,” he added.

Clinical Establishments Act amended

“The bill will help to prescribe minimum standards for medical facilities and quality of services to be provided by the healthcare providers. All general private hospitals, including dental hospitals, maternity hospitals, dispensaries, medical clinics, polyclinics and nursing homes are referred as 'clinical establishments' who will be authorized to register under the regulatory body within nine months after the notification,” said health minister C Vijayabaskar.