Services at outpatient departments (OPDs) of many private hospitals may be hit but emergency and critical services will remain open.
Healthcare services at many private hospitals in the country are likely to be hit on Tuesday as the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has called for suspending routine services for 12 hours, to protest a Bill seeking to replace the Medical Council of India (MCI) with a new body.
Services at outpatient departments (OPDs) of many private hospitals may be hit but emergency and critical services will remain open. The IMA, which has been strongly opposing the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill saying that it will "cripple" the functioning of medical professionals by making them completely answerable to the bureaucracy and non-medical administrators, has declared Tuesday a "Black Day".
"In its present form, the NMC Bill is not acceptable. It is anti-poor, anti-people, non-representative, undemocratic, and anti-federal in character. The IMA headquarters, hereby, declares closure of all routine services for 12 hours from 6 am to 6 pm on Tuesday across the country," newly-appointed IMA national president Dr Ravi Wankhedkar said.
The IMA has 2.77 lakh doctors as its members. The Delhi Medical Association (DMA) is supporting the IMA protest and has called upon all private and corporate hospitals in the national Capital to keep their OPD services closed.
Former IMA president Dr K K Aggarwal said they have already written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union health minister J P Nadda, urging them to redraft the Bill and rectify some of its provisions, to protect the interest of medical practitioners.
Nadda then had a meeting with the IMA members, wherein the latter conveyed their concerns over the Bill. A senior health ministry official said the Bill is slated to come up for discussion in the Parliament on Tuesday and the House will decide on the matter.
The NMC Bill, which was tabled in the Parliament on Friday, seeks to replace the MCI and also proposes allowing practitioners of alternative medicines, such as homoeopathy and ayurveda, to practise allopathy after completing a "bridge course".
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