Team Herald
PANJIM: Goan doctors affiliated to the Indian Medical Association (IMA) Goa Unit on Saturday went on a one-day flash strike, opposing the National Medical Bill which is to be tabled in Parliament on Monday.
The 12-hour flash strike that began at 6 in the morning inconvenienced patients across the State as private clinics and OPDs were closed.
“IMA declares the bill to be crassly pro-rich even after the proposed amendments. The impact it will have on one count of medical education becoming inaccessible to poor and downtrodden and producing doctors predominantly from the rich and urban sections of the population is unacceptable. IMA has the national duty to fight this black law as the voice of voiceless,” IMA-Goa Unit president Dr Ajay Pednekar said.
He added, “Trampling upon the autonomy of medical profession will have unforeseen consequences on the health of the nation which cannot be undone for many generations to come. NMC as such remains an anti-poor, anti-people and anti-federal law, which if allowed to be passed will have unforeseen consequences on not only health sector but also on the federal structure of the country.”
He further said that IMA rejects the National Medical Commission 2017 fulfilling its commitment to the health of the people and resolves to fight the anti-people legislation.
“If the government tries to force this bill in current form it will be met with similar resistance as in the past. State health universities have a robust role in modulating the syllabi and the curriculum of medical education. In NMC they have been relegated to a secondary role in the National Advisory Council. They are the ones who confer degree on medical graduates. The anti-federal nature of the Bill in marginalising State governments, State Medical Councils and State health universities is a direct assault on the Constitution and the concept of India,” Pednekar added.
IMA said that the cosmetic changes made to the bill have not restored the autonomy of the medical profession rightfully conferred by the IMC Act 1956 which has given the nation doctors of international calibre and has formed the foundation of patient care and patient safety in this country.
