The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has held a nationwide protest with the 24-hour withdrawal of non-essential services in govt hospitals on 31st July. The protest is pertaining to the recently approved National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill in Lok Sabha which doctors think would only encourage the emergence of quacks. The non-essential services such as OPDs is shut from 6 am on 31st July which will continue till 6 am on Thursday i.e 1st August.
However, the emergency, casualty, ICU and related services will still function generally. The protest is against some of the laws laid in recent NMC Bill, which is speculated to degrade the standards of the healthcare in the country. Few reasons for opposing the bill: Section 32 of the NMC Bill provides licensing for 3.5 lakh unqualified non-medical persons The term ‘Community Health’ is also imprecisely defined in the NMC Bill which legalizes…
