HYDERABAD: The members of the Telangana Junior Doctors Association (TJUDA) burnt the effigy of Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health, and continued boycott of elective duties and emergency services in the State on Sunday to protest against the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill.
They said the agitation will continue till some sections in the Bill are amended. Three undergraduate students, on indefinite hunger strike at Osmania Medical College from August 1, also continued their fast. The doctors have been keeping off emergency services since Thursday and elective duties from Wednesday. The Bill, after its passage in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, has triggered countrywide agitation.
It plans to wind up the Medical Council of India and have in its place a National Medical Commission, a central authority responsible for regulating medical education in the country. Besides, the Bill proposes a common final-year MBBS examination, to be known as the National Exit Test (NEXT), for admission to post-graduate medical courses, and for obtaining a licence to practise medicine.