CHENNAI: Students of MBBS of all government medical colleges in the State will boycott classes and stage a sit-in at their respective institution campus on Monday to protest against the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill 2019 that was passed by Rajya Sabha recently.
“We will hold the protest from 9 am to 4 pm on Monday. All government medical college students will take part in the protest,” said S M Hari Ganesh, a student, on Sunday.
“We are against the concept of introducing Community Health Providers and also National Exit Test (NEXT). We will hold the protest in all medical college campuses,” he said.
On Friday around 700 students of Madras Medical College (MMC) staged a sit-in at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital here, boycotting classes, against the Bill. Medical students in other districts also staged various protests.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) also strongly opposed the legislation. In a release, the association had said, “Section 32 of National Medical Commission Bill provides for licensing of 3.5 lakh unqualified, non-medical persons to practice modern medicine. The term community health provider has been vaguely defined to allow anyone connected with modern medicine to get registered in NMC and be licensed to practice modern medicine.”
The Bill also makes it mandatory for MBBS students to clear NEXT to practice in India and also to join post-graduate course.