KOCHI: Indian Medical Association (IMA) national president Vinay Agarwal alleged on Sunday that the Centre was trying to roll out second grade doctors by opening over 300 medical schools.
"If the Centre goes ahead with the proposal to open 300 medical schools, it will create confusion and bring disgrace to the Indian doctors in the international arena," he said while inaugurating a function organised to felicitate Padma Award winners Dr A Marthanda Pillai and Dr Jose Chacko Periappuram.
"The Centre is planning to open 300 medical schools when the over 60,000 primary health centres do not even have a medically equipped room. The proposal will give way for major corruption in the medical system. The proposal is nothing but a strategy to loot over `15,000 crore sanctioned under the National Rural Health Mission (NHRM)," he said.
The IMA would oppose the proposal tooth and nail as it would only produce second grade doctors, who would be passing out from those schools after three years of medical education, he added.
"Indian doctors are known the world over for delivering quality medical service. The Medical Council of India has become a puppet at the hands of the corporate lobby.
The Centre should take steps to reconstitute the IMA in a democratic manner," Agarwal said.
IMA national vicepresident M Bhaskaran, state president G Vijayakumar, state secretary Rajagopalan Nair and IMA Kochi unit president Sachidananda Kamath spoke.