On August 8,the Indian Medical Association has called for a strike to protest against certain provisions of the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill. The medical students will continue their strike across the country under IMA Medical Students Network.

According to a statement by the IMA, the call for strike is for all the modern medicine doctors to leave their work place across the sectors at all levels. The doctors body has also called for demonstrations and hunger strikes at its local branches and urged medical students to boycott classes and announceunity with the IMA.

On Sunday, resident doctors of AIIMS and Safdarjung Hospital had called off their strike and resumed duties after Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhanguaranteed them that their concerns over the NMC Bill will be appropriately addressed.The doctors had been representing against certain provisions of the bill ever since its passage in Rajya Sabha last week.

The IMA said that the NMC Bill 2019 is unacceptable to the medical fraternity in the existing format. The community health providers predicted in the bill that there is a direct threat to thousands of poor helplessmarginalized rural patients and the health of the nation is at stake. They have demanded that the government of India involve the modern medical fraternity on important dialogue and address the issue immediately.

The NMC Bill provides for set up of a National Medical Commission in place of the MCI for development and regulation of all aspects of medical education, profession and institutions. According to doctors, if the bill is not amended, will lead to deterioration of medical education and degradation of healthcare services.

The fraternity is opposing section 32(1), (2) and (3) of the bill, that says will encourage quackery by providing license to practice modern medicine as community health providers for persons other than those holding MBBS degrees.

The doctors also said that there was no clarity over the introduction of NEXT and scrapping the NEET-PG. They are also opposing the reduction of percentage of seats under controlled fees structure in private medical colleges and deemed universities from 85 to 50 per cent and further reducing the representation of elected members from 75 per cent in MCI to 20 per cent in the National Medical Commission and autonomous boards constituted there-under.