To Shri Narendra Modi
Honorable Prime Minister of India
Respected Sir;
Indian Medical Association is the largest Medical
Association of the world. IMA is a voluntary body constituted by doctors
practicing modern system of medicine. It represents the collective
consciousness of over 2.7 Lakh doctors in all the 686 districts of India
organised in 30 state and 1765 Local Branches. Indian doctors have contributed
significantly in achieving Millennium Developmental Goals and are now working
hard to achieve sustainable developmental goals including reduction in maternal
mortality, infant mortality, road traffic accident deaths, HIV, TB and Malaria.
IMA is actively participating in Swachh Bharat Swasth Bharat Abhiyan and
Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matratav Abhiyan.
IMA as a nation builder has volunteered its services for the
success of all the national programmes. We are concerned about the threats
perceived by the profession in general and hardship suffered by individual
doctors in particular. To be able to participate in various national health programmes
and continue giving our best to the community, we need your intervention in the
following:
• Anywhere in the
world, medical profession is bestowed with reasonable autonomy. This autonomy
is to provide the flexibility required to keep pace of the rapidly advancing
science. Patient care and Patient safety are the main benefits of such
autonomy. Regulators need to have autonomy and be independent of
Administrators. The proposed National Medical Commission will be a regulator
appointed by Administrators under their direct control. IMA supports suitable
amendments in the existing IMC Act. IMA is against scrapping it totally and
making it a non autonomous body.
• It abolishes
Medical Council of India (MCI) and along with it, the section 16.1.b of MCI Act
which says that the basic qualification to practice modern medicine is MBBS.
• It takes away the
voting right of every doctor in India to elect their medical council. The MCI
is a representative body of the medical profession in India. Roughly 2/3rd of
its members are elected through various electoral processes. Any registered
medical practitioner in the country can contest the elections and every
qualified doctor can vote. Abolishing a democratic institution and replacing it
by a totally nominated body is certainly a retrograde step and is unacceptable.
• It allows private
medical colleges to charge at free will nullifying whatever solace NEET
brought.
• Inducting non-medical
persons in the highest regulator of medical profession takes away the
perspective and character of the sacrosanct institution.
• Instituting a
Medical Licentiate exam after qualifying in final MBBS exam is an injustice and
as such is insensitive to the plight of medical students who even otherwise
have to undergo a long and tortuous academic career chequered with highly
competitive exams.
• Professional
organizations like IMA are registered under Societies Act. In no way their
independence and freedom of action could be subjected to Government control
through National Medical Commission. In fact, they remain the only
whistleblowers, being the voice of voiceless in the issues of Health. Such
corrective forces are part and parcel of the democratic forces in the country.
• This is not the
first time that the Government has made such a move. In 2005, the then Union
Health Minister, Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, tried unsuccessfully to bring in a
legislation to dissolve the MCI and set up another council under the control of
the Health Ministry. IMA, along with other professional bodies, opposed this move.
Nevertheless, the legislation was drafted and placed before the cabinet for
approval to bring in an ordinance. The Prime Minister’s Office referred this
bill to a standing committee of Parliament on health. The standing committee
rejected it on the ground that any regulatory body should be devoid of
Government control or else it would lose its independent regulatory mechanism.
• It is pertinent to
note that in its exhaustive report the standing committee took exception to the
attempt by the Government of India to centralize the powers with itself and
reduce down a Body of Experts created for a distinct purpose by a Parliamentary
enactment into a Department working under the Government of India.
• There is a paradigm
shift in the behavior of the society towards doctors and health staff. Medical
Professionals need protection in work place. This can be addressed by notifying
doctors and health staff under the category of Deemed Public Servant. A Central
Law on the lines of “Delhi Medicare Service Personnel & Medicare Service
Institutions Act” or 17 such State Laws protecting doctors and health staff is
the need of the hour.
• Being a social
profession, the fee of doctors is reasonable and often capped by Mediclaim,
CGHS, PSUs and the market forces. Medical Profession expects quid pro quo
capping in compensation when it is awarded against a doctor. Already
compensation for a mishap in a clinical trial has been capped.
• The hospitals today
are being governed by Clinical Establishment (Registration and Regulation) Act
2013. This has ushered in License Raj in a sector which has brought much
laurels to India. The Licensing character of the bill should be replaced by
accreditation. The Act also envisages fixing of various charges in the hospital
and setting protocols for various illnesses. Both are unacceptable. It is also
prayed that at least single doctor clinics should be exempted from CEA.
• IMA demands a
single window registration for hospitals and health care establishments under
state medical councils. IMA also wants a single window regulation for medical
negligence under the State Medical Council.
• IMA is for
stringent punishment to any doctor who indulges in sex selective abortions.
However, IMA is against penal provisions under PCPNDT Act or under other Acts
where doctors are booked for clerical mistakes.
• Practicing modern
medicine is not beyond risk and it takes 10 years of learning. There is no way
by a six months or 1 year course, AYUSH doctors or others could be trained to
practice modern system of medicine. In an emergency, improper treatment can
lead to death. IMA has been raising these points with the Ministry repeatedly.
IMA even announced a Satyagraha which was scheduled on 16th of November, 2015
but on the intervention of Shri J P Nadda, Hon’ble Minister of Health &
Family Welfare, it was postponed and an Inter-Ministerial Committee was formed
on 13th November, 2015 with a mandate to come out with a solution within 6
weeks. But nothing has happened so far. IMA is now forced to organize a Satyagraha
on 16th November 2016, The International Day for Tolerance and expects the
Government’s intervention to solve the problems of medical profession once for
all. Our demands are for the welfare of the community and to help the
Government in implementing its programs.
We are confident that
our issues will get mentioned in your next “Mann Ki Baat”. We hope to get our
issues solved in the next six weeks.
With kind regards
Yours sincerely
Dr S S
Aggarwal (National President) Dr K K Aggarwal (National President-Elect) Dr
Marthanda Pillai (Immediate Past National President) Dr Ravi Wankhedkar
(National President-Elect 2018) Dr R N Tandon, Hony Secretary General-Elect Dr
R V Asokan Chairman Action Committee
Copy to: President of India Health Minister of India Chief
Minister of the State Health Ministry of the State District Magistrate DC
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