BENGALURU: The Indian Medical Association (IMA) called for a nationwide protest from 6am on Wednesday to 6 am on Thursday asking for the withdrawal of National Commission Bill (NMC) 2019, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Private hospitals in the city showed solidarity with the protest and kept their out patient departments shut. However, emergency, ICUs and casualty remained unaffected. Also, the government continued to work. All the 28,000 members of IMA in the state-supported the cause from 20,000 hospitals. All India Democratic Students Organisation (AIDSO) also condemned the bill. Students from Bangalore Medical College staged a protest at Town Hall on Wednesday.
According to Dr R Ravindra of Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Associations (PHANA) said, “The students will be the worst hit. The NMC bill states that they will regulate fees and all other charges for 50% of seats in private medical colleges and deemed universities. At present, the state government regulates fees for 85% of such seats and the rest 15% is for the management to decide.”
Dr Annadani M Meti, president, IMA, Karnataka Chapter, said, “The Medical Council of India (MCI) was an autonomous body with two-third of its members (160 plus) being directly elected by the medical fraternity. The new one will now have 25 members with no directly elected member (according to the bill). The NMC bill is non-democratic, non-PAN-India representing and anti-progressive. We will not support it.”